Warning: This review contains spoilers.
I just saw Vantage Point at the matinee with my wife and really liked it. This is director Pete Travis's first film. His recent television work includes Omagh (2004), a true story about a car bomb that killed many innocent people, and the 2003 television series Henry VIII. One was about a bomb, the other was criticized as being untruthful.
The bomb theme together with an unbelievable story is sort of what Travis brings us in Vantage Point. Nonetheless, the plot is original and clever, along with the editing. Plus certain humanitarian elements played out by an all-star cast make the movie enjoyable. The cast includes: Dennis Quaid as Thomas Barnes, Matthew Fox (of Lost fame) as Kent Taylor, Forest Whitaker as Howard Lewis, Sigourney Weaver as Rex Brooks, and some other fine actors who are sure to be up-and-comers.
When I say the plot is original and clever, I am being quite literal. I have never seen a movie that plays the same scene over and over again this way. It is reminiscent of 1999's Nick of Time, starring Johnny Depp. In that film the scenes are done in "real time," so it is a little different. Most of Vantage Point takes place in a Spanish town square where the President of the United States is shot. The 20-minute scene of the shooting is played over and over again, each time revealing new facts as seen from a different vantage point.
This would be a stellar idea for a movie, but the facts as they unravel are way too planned to have been random, and the parts of the "plan" that unravel are just too perfect to be believable. For example, the terrorists know exactly what room the President will escape to after the shooting, and what about an ambulance? We don't see one. Another example is when thousands of Spaniards are running through the street and Howard Lewis happens to see and save a little girl whose ice cream he spilled earlier in the square. You must suspend your disbelief to enjoy this film, but it is still riveting to see the different vantage points played out. My wife said it made her a little queasy at the beginning seeing the same things over and over, but she agreed it was an original concept and in the end we both enjoyed it.
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Article comments
1 - Pat the Expat
"When I say the plot is original and clever, I am being quite literal. I have never seen a movie that plays the same scene over and over again this way."
rent Kurosawa's Rashoman to see where this "original" idea first played out in a movie
2 - Damien Riley
Hi Pat. I will take your word for it that it isn't 100% original then. I would bet however that most movie going audiences haven't heard of that movie you mention so I think it's safe to say they would find it clever and original. This movie was a lot of fun.