Vantage Point – 2008

*** Out of ****

Wasn’t what I thought it would be. That phrase essentially sums up my entire experience with Vantage Point, the mainstream directorial debut of Pete Travis, who judging from his premier endeavour will have a successful career in cinema. Anyways, back to my one sentence summary. When I first viewed the previews for this film I was excited, as the feature boasted a stellar cast and original storyline. Then when the reviews came pouring in, I thought to myself “I guess it wasn’t what I though.” And technically it wasn’t, as going into the film with significantly reduced expectations, I was most pleasantly surprised. So to put it bluntly, I have not had a perceptive view of this film at any point before or during this release. What I am sure of however, is that I had a damn fine time at the movies with Vantage Point.

Seeming to draw an epic comparison to Rashomon, I didn’t see many similarities between the two films, but I suppose it is an unavoidable association, Vantage Point is intelligent, but provides an inferior ending and conclusion, which works out the following way; the beginning is under emphasized and the ending is low brow and cliché. It is essentially an exercise in banality. This balances out to an ultimately mediocre picture, which is somewhat depressing seeing as what the initial vision could have translated to on screen. Taking place in Spain at a world summit, we follow the views of 8 individuals, in 8 different situations following the assassination of the president. We have William Hurt as the president, who had the most interesting story, Dennis Quaid as a secret service agent who took a bullet for the commander in chief earlier in his career, Mathew Fox as Quaid’s apprentice, among others including Sigourney Weaver and Forest Whitaker. What I will say, is this film prove how clever casting can mask the villain from the audience, as when the traitor is revealed, I was not at all expecting it. The views are told in 8 separate overlapping vignettes, which I have gathered that the general consensus is that this approach grows tiresome. Personally, I did not tire of this style, as each individual’s perception of the events is too different to become redundant. Aside from the presidential speech, and explosion that takes place, very little overlaps, save the final revelation of certain characters interception of one another.

Vantage Point boasts some surprisingly emotional scenes early in the film, and twists that I did not see coming, which evoked an aloud “ohhhhhh” when revealed. The overlying flaw in this film is the fact that the encounters and revelations rely too much on coincidence, then on clever writing or slight of hand directing. In addition, many of the motives of the villains involved are left blatantly unclear. There’s are some patches of cringe worthy dialogue, but it is for the most part solid, and the best part erupts at the end when all the characters converge in a montage of clever overlays are swirling cinematic’s. The last thing I will mention, that for some reason overly annoyed me, is the spoken use of the acronym POTUS (President of the United States), which when used is said so smugly; it is to purvey an arrogant omnipotence, that is outwardly annoying and says “look at our acronym, it makes an actual un-awkward word”. Aside from these foibles, Vantage Point is bound to entertain the un-pessimistic movie goer, who is looking for a joyous romp at the movies.

© 2008 Simon Brookfield