Vantage Point Movie Review

Written by Sean McBride

Wednesday, 27 February 2008

“Vantage Point” Columbia Films Directed by Pete Travis Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Sigourney Weaver, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Zoe Saldana and Eduardo Noriega Rated PG-13   2 ½ Stars         “Vantage Point” is a fairly engaging action film that centers on a Presidential assassination and the Secret Service agents tasked with finding bringing the bad guys to justice. The whole story takes about twenty-three minutes to play out, but since less than a thirty minutes does not a movie make, the filmmakers rewind everything and show you the assassination again. This time the attack is seen from a different vantage point (thus the title) and this time we’re meant to see the events just a little bit differently. The difference is supposed to provide new insights and twist the story in a different direction. The problem is that “Vantage Point” doesn’t really have any clever new information to share as we watch the story unfold again and again. It makes for an okay action film the first time around, but the meat of the mystery just doesn’t hold up to repeated scrutiny. The few twists thrown in to gunk up the works aren’t very plausible, and one of the big revelations is completely given away in the film’s commercials and trailers, robbing the surprise of all of its power. All of which is a bit surprising give the A-list cast involved. William Hurt plays the US President, and Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox are the Agents assigned to protect him. Sigourney Weaver is a TV director who sees everything from her control room and Forest Whitaker is a tourist who just happens to catch something on his camcorder. That’s a whole lot of acting talent, but most of the potential goes unrealized as each story is compartmentalized into its own specific sequence. Unlike Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” or even “Ground Hog Day,” Vantage Point ultimately fails because the repeated story doesn’t really merit the repetition. This is a simple action mystery, and it’s enjoyable on that basic level, and that level only. The more they replay the story, the more you realize that there really wasn’t all that much to see in the first place. Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published Wednesdays and Fridays in “The Port Arthur News.” He can be found weekly on KAVU-TV, KFDM-TV, and KVIC Radio. Additional reviews can be found at www.rottentomatoes.com, www.panews.com or at www.myvictoriaonline.com. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.