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30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vantage Point - Gets Better Towards the End, Worth Watching!, March 8, 2008
"Vantage Point" is a good action drama that you can predict pretty well from the trailer. It is based on a concept that has been done many times before, that of telling the same story from multiple points of view. Fans of "24" will get a strong sense of déjà vu 24 - Season 1 (Slim - Pack). Yet the core story is interesting. The action sequences and great camera work make this a movie worth watching. Good acting and a strong finish help to overcome some loose ends and production errors.
The President of the United States (William Hurt), or POTUS as referred to by the secret service, is the target of a group of terrorists whose objectives are never revealed to us. While overseas to attend an anti-terrorism summit in Spain, he is shot. Or is he?
Dennis Quaid and Mathew Fox (of "Lost" fame Lost - The Complete First Season) play secret service agents there to protect the President. After multiple attacks occur after the president is shot, they scramble to try to respond and find the shooter. It is very difficult to tell which attacks are meant to kill and which are meant to divert attention away from the villains.
Quaid takes advantage of Forest Whitaker's camcorder film and the media's tapes to piece together the story. As each of the characters is swung into action, we get to see their individual struggles to cope with chaos and how their stories are interconnected.
Perhaps in an homage to "24," after each character's scene finishes it 'rewinds' to the beginning to give us the next character's 'vantage point.' This gets old fast. After a while, these vantage points seem to disintegrate into one another and overlap more and more. In fact, this is one story where the effect seems to have taken away from the story.
The action sequences are very strong, and even though there's a lot of hand held camera work they get enough steady shots to make the chase scenes watchable. Most notable is a car chase scene that is bound to draw comparisons to Ronin Ronin, The Bourne Identity The Bourne Identity (Widescreen Extended Edition), The Italian Job The Italian Job (Special Collector's Edition) and other recent car chase movies. Putting together a sequence like that is very difficult, and I can't wait for the DVD to see how they did it. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good car chase.
The pacing of the movie is good and especially improves once we get to the last few vantage points. The score is excellent and blends well with the action sequences. We are purposely left without reasons why this group is after the president.
There are some technical things that are off in the movie. Anybody who has ever been to Spain will get that uneasy feeling. Once you see the Mexican extras and hear them speak a very Central American Spanish it becomes clear they are in Mexico, not Spain. They try to use a few Spanish actors, but it's not enough to feel like Spain.
Some parts of the dialogue seem overly preachy. Still, this movie does effectively portray how difficult security planning is in a world where government security tactics are public knowledge. The story probably would have been more profound and meaningful with a traditional plot-line, which it turns into at the end anyway.
This movie is worth watching and improves a lot towards the end. You just have to get past several very annoying rewind sequences and plenty of early repetition.
Enjoy!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Groundhog Day on Steroids!!!!, July 23, 2008
Vantage Point is an ingenious action thriller surrounding the attempted assasination of the U.S. President attending an international conference in Spain. The movie is actually 'about" 15 minutes but is seen from the "vantage point' (sorry) of about six different people. Each perspective presents a tad more about the swirling espionage associated with the conference until you realize that nothing is what you thought it was (AT ALL) in the beginning.
Perhaps I am not sophisticated enough to dwell on the supposed GLARING shortcomings of the film. I suspect some "critics" are conditioned/programmed to be oh so discerning that they can't see the forest for the trees - this was a thrilling, action-packed, and rather clever way of looking at an intense incident and is an excellent example of the age-old adage that truth is relative. Six people can look at exactly the same thing and see six different things.
Fun movie. Great action flick. I indeed recommend.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Come on people!!, September 8, 2008
I can't believe there aren't many more 1 star reviews on this horrible movie.
Wow, where do we start. Well, how about with the cell phone. It is fortunate for the free world that the bad guy hadn't completely read the owners manual because it would have meant some serious trouble for the rest of us. I'm sure the phone also has the ability to remotely fly Air Force 1, make the lights go and off in every office building in Spain, and order a pizza at the same time. Controlling a sniper rifle is child's play for that thing.
Do we really believe that the Secret Service is that inept? I've actually known Secret Service guys - that one lone bad guy dude at the end, THAT is the way THEY are. Talking about that super bad dude. Can anyone please explain to me why he put a mask over his face? He kills a squad of highly trained agents, then puts on his mask, kills a dozen more agents to the point where there is NO ONE LEFT (save one) and then he takes off his mask??!!! Why put it on in the first place???!!!
Then there is the ridiculous child in the movie. As someone else pointed out, these guys kill scores of innocent people but the guy has a case of consciousness at the end and rolls over his vehicle? What?? NO NO NO - a true bad guy (and this guy was) was not going to stop. Terrorists do not brake for Raccoons, squirrels, or little girls.
Why was Weaver in this movie?
I had no idea it was so so easy to place and transport bombs from place to place where the President was going to be. This movie has let out all of its secrets - who knew?
The plot was absolutely ridiculous. These movie makers know NOTHING about security. It is true that most people don't either, but you know watching this movie that even though you may not know much about it, there is common sense. Common sense would tell you that this movie was total crap.
Oh - another thing. Since when would you ever see a Russian, Chinese, or French secret service agent equivalent running through OUR streets, car jacking by simply flashing their Chinese/Russian/French badge, and firing shots into the air after a "suspect", who just so happens to be a policeman of OUR country. Heck not only shooting into the air but AT the suspect in a street full of innocent people. "Our" innocent people. Would any of us stand for that? Would any country stand for our secret service agents driving down their streets and shooting at people indiscriminately? Secondly, if one of them fires his gun half a dozen times (or was it a dozen, in all of the excitement I lost track myself) you would think they would be good enough to HIT their target. Of course the super bad dude NEVER missed. That is why I call him the "super" bad dude.
Do not waste your time with this movie. The trailer showed great promise and I am sure that this "could" have been a great movie. What an utter disappointment. Even more so that people actually like this movie. I know people are entitled to their opinion, but shees.
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