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Vantage Point (2008)

Director: Pete Travis

2

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Movie review

From Time Out New York

Snake Eyes sprinkled with talking points, Vantage Point is a feature-length gimmick masquerading as a geopolitical thriller. Trafficking in the topical namechecking that passes for political filmmaking in the Bush era (imagine this movie in Alan Pakula’s hands), the plot pivots on an attempted presidential assassination in Salamanca, Spain, during a global summit on terrorism. The film, time-conscious à la 24, rewinds to literal high noon and plays the event from a total of six perspectives, getting us closer to the principal parties with each version. We move from a TV crew to a Secret Service agent (Quaid) to a tourist (Whitaker) to the target and his assassins. The film boasts a certain symmetrical elegance, with successive chapters providing new, carefully telegraphed “twists,” the biggest of which is blown in the trailer.

Is there more to this admittedly slick production than watching a jerry-rigged system close in on itself? Nods are made in the direction of substance—Americans “cannot imagine the world from a perspective where they’re not ahead,” sneers a terrorist, amid a scheme that involves more doubles and decoys than a Brian De Palma Vertigo riff. Hoping to capitalize on the world’s sympathy after tragedy, the President (Hurt) is a decent, vaguely liberal presence at the mercy of his hawkish handlers. What happens to him amounts to a toothless wish-fulfillment fantasy, as the movie peels away its ambiguities and crescendos into an exciting car chase. How Vantage Point was deemed releasable after Benazir Bhutto’s death is a question for the marketers.

Author: Ben Kenigsberg 2008-02-19 17:19:25

Time Out New York Issue 647: February 21-28, 2008

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User reviews of this film

  • Emma Cain said...
    Posted on Mar 17 2008 07:44 Saw this film last night and what a complete let-down! If I say that half way through the film the entire audience was sniggering, which then quickly descended into roars of laughter, I would be being generous. An over-simplistic look at the 'War on Terror', the inevitable "America Saves The Day' ending is frankly nausiating. Dennis Quad is like a rabbid 'Rambo' character - cheesy and unrealistic. Very disappointed that Forest Whitaker lent himself to such a mind numbingly appalling excuse for a thriller!
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  • rob said...
    Posted on Mar 08 2008 14:47 I saw this film today and though how good it was i like the way u get the different views and the twists and turns. Personally i though that agent taylor was a bit to nice to be a terrorist but overall i loved the film and would recommend it 2 anyone
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  • j said...
    Posted on Feb 23 2008 05:55 it seems to me the reviewer was simply looking for things that were wrong with the movie, i found it very enjoyable and would much rather read reviews that were created at least partly objectively, and not simply an opinion that had clearly already been reached before even entering the theatre.
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Vantage Point

Cast & crew

Director: Pete Travis

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Zoë Saldana, Ayelet Zurer, Sigourney Weaver, James LeGros full cast

Rated: PG-13

Duration: 90 mins

US Release: Feb 22 2008


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