Vantage Point

Vantage Point is a story of a terrorist attack in Spain, as told from eight points of view. It is a exercise in perspective. We all have a different perspective as to what is going on in the world. The film stars Dennis Quaid (sorry, but he totally sucks), William Hurt, Matthew Fox, Sigourney Weaver, and Forest Whitaker, among others. The President is shot (ok, the double of the President, the trailer gives away a little too much here). Explosions ensue, and chaos erupts at this summit meeting that was designed to help stop terrorism. The terrorists strike this meeting for a reason.

This film is quite entertaining, and clocks in at an hour and half, so it packs its punch in a concentrated amount of time. The story starts and we see the events from the perspective of the news network. Then we rewind and see it all again from the perspective of a Secret Service agent. We go back a third time and see it all through the eyes of an undercover Spanish cop. Then again through a tourist, then through a terrorist, etc. This repetition sounds a little boring, but it truly does provide completely different perspectives. In a way, this film takes the Crash filmmaking style and turns it into an exciting action movie. Don't look to Vantage Point to give you a lot in terms of depth and insight into the human condition. It offers nothing profound. Instead, it entertains us immensely and gives us that little rush in searching for the truth. We want to know what happened, and we get to take part in figuring it out. I was very weary of this film because I had been seeing the trailers for almost a year and the release date kept getting pushed back (that usually means the movie sucks, and they don't know what to do to make it better). The film is an exciting, fun to watch experience, a nice action escape following the amazing but heavy-hearted Oscar season.