We get to see these events from the perspectives of all the major players. These players include the news agency covering the event, the secret service agent (Quaid) protecting the President, a tourist (Forest Whitaker) recording the event to show his kids, a Spanish cop who has multiple reasons for being there, as well as a couple more involved in the actual event rather than victims of the aftermath. All of these angles come to a head in an explosive climax where everyone is revealed to everyone else and it is a race against time.
It is within these rewinds and replays that some of the movie's major problems exist. By the time we get into the extended finale, it is already losing steam. The audience has grown weary of the same sequence events over and over again. I could tell the audience I was in was growing a bit restless by the time the third rewind came around.
Personally, I did not have much of a problem, aside from the repeated flashing of the start time. It was fine the first time around, but subsequent use was unnecessary and is insulting to the audience. It was as if the makers did not trust the audience to keep up.
If you want a film with character development or a well-develped plot, you will want to skip this. If, however, you are interested in a movie that is like a chess game and whose sole purpose is to move players around a board in search of checkmate, this may actually be for you.
I think you get the picture. Vantage Point is an exercise in plotting over all else. On that level, the movie is quite successful. There is a constant energy throughout as everything continuously surges ahead with few moments to catch your breath.
Considering the focus (the chessboard aesthetic) there is little room for any extensive plot development. There is supreme focus on the matter at hand rather than the bigger picture. There is no big picture in Vantage Point. There are a few scenes that suggest a larger stage, not to mention a more personal one, but there is no time to explore it. This is a shame, as a little more meat could have made this infinitely more entertaining.
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