Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Updates:

Vantage Point (2008)

Director: Pete Travis

Time Out rating

Average user rating

85 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Salamanca, Spain, and crowds jostle in the main square as secret service agents usher in the US President (William Hurt) to make an address before an international conference negotiates a new accord on the war on terror. As a TV news director (Sigourney Weaver) marshals her cameras, a shot rings out and the leader of the free world crumples to the ground. What just happened? Let’s rewind… before you can say ‘Rashomon’ we’re seeing the same events from another perspective (the Presidential POV), then another (veteran bodyguard Dennis Quaid), and even, eventually, from the vantage point of the perpetrators. Sounds fascinatingly ambiguous, no?

Well, it might have been if the film had been made 35 years ago, but one simple truth emerges: murderous Arab extremists won’t escape US intelligence forces, not even in a high-speed car-chase down narrow side-streets lined with café tables.

Although mounted with no little efficiency by director Pete Travis (who previously made the TV drama-doc ‘Omagh’), the narrative enterprise actually hides a one-dimensional world view, with civilian casualties mere background set dressing. Crass indeed.

Author: Trevor Johnston 2008-03-03 17:18:39

Time Out London Issue 1959 March 5 – 11 2008

Bookmark

User reviews of this film

Jordan said...

Posted on Mar 09 2008 15:47 Dnt no why theres dat much bad reveiws fort it was a top film had a laff when it keeps on going pack to 12 pm but the ending did it for me top class film go see :P

Report as inappropriate
leanne said...

Posted on Mar 09 2008 10:42 it was ok but dont take it too serious

Report as inappropriate
stef said...

Posted on Mar 09 2008 00:31 do NOT go see this movie
i fell asleep along with a few of my mates
it doesnt make any sense and drags on

Report as inappropriate
chiara said...

Posted on Mar 09 2008 00:17 save your money....do not go see this movie....it's fantastic for the first 40 minutes than it gets completely illogical....at some point the entire audience started laughing at the absurdity and lack of credibility of the scenes.....

Report as inappropriate
Shaun said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 23:55 An good evening's entertainment as long as you don't take it too seriously. For a film which must have been a continuity director's nightmare you would have thought that they would have made more of an effort. Using a Corsa for the car chase was not going to fool anyone that this was taking place in Spain especially since most of the other vehicles were clearly American models ie the ambulances and the lorries - sorry - trucks! I know that subtitles don't go down to well in commercial cinema but there were a lot of Spanish people who chose to speak English to each other. And, of course, the locals would be watching an American news station in there local bar, wouldn't they?

Report as inappropriate
Jim said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 22:11 I have to disagree with the previous posts.
This film was pedestrian and uninspiring. Rather than creating a fast paced action drama, the film producers have spawned a rather annoying, tedious, dreadful piece of cinema that is as obvious as it is boring.
None of the main characters are developed in any sort of way that we begin to identify with them and many are merely bad caricatures of tried and tired watered down characters.
The car-chase scene has little credibility, Dennis Quaid's Vauxhall Corsa crashes into no fewer than 3 articulated lorries without obtaining a single scratch.
The annoying flashbacks continually interrupt the flow of the film and the cinema audience audibly groaned when the film switched to the third, forth and fifth different character's viewpoint, which, due to the unimaginative storyline, was entirely unneccessary as any mystery contained in the film had long since dissapeared.
Overall, dissapointingly poor considering the calibre of the cast.

Report as inappropriate
Alex!! said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 18:00 Really well made film very inteligently made

Report as inappropriate
blah said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 13:00 very intense

Report as inappropriate
Steve said...

Posted on Mar 08 2008 06:57 This was clever and enjoyable. Well crafted film and yes although it was US centric you don't have to subscribe to the world view to appreciate it.

Report as inappropriate
Alexv said...

Posted on Mar 07 2008 18:18 I actually enjoyed this. There were lots of twists which kept coming and the car chase was pretty intense! Okay not going to win any oscars but fun and not a bad way of spending an hour and a half in the dark...

Report as inappropriate