User reviews

As the Bourne series raises the bar for action films, and audiences balk at two-plus hour runtimes, the filmmakers of Vantage Point seem like they are trying to bring a fresh, new, unconventional take on the action/thriller genre. Though it may annoy some people, I felt the new take turns Vantage Point into a taut terrorist thriller.

The new take or approach is jumping right into the moment (everything is already planned out, people and weapons in place, etc.) of the action and then telling it from eight different points of view. This is where some people may be mildly irritated because after you see one point of view everything is suddenly rewound and shown from the next person's point of view (this is done six times) before they all converge into a thrilling finale filled with one massive adrenaline-fuelled car/chase sequence.

Because of the complex twists and turns of the plot and characters I will be brief, very brief actually, on the plot. It starts with a TV network covering a large gathering of leaders from all over the world (including the President of the United States) who have come together to form an alliance against the war on terror. At the beginning of this meeting the US president is assassinated as he takes the stage, and it begins replaying the assassination through all the different points of view. The editing must be commended in this film as it blends all the points of views so sophisticatedly you cannot help being engrossed, and the star-studded cast includes Dennis Quaid, Mathew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver simply adds to everything.

In the theater I was watching some people called out their annoyance of "again?!" on the fifth rewind, which I find amusing as the filmmakers are simply trying to come up with something new in these sequel-ridden times. And probably as those same people say Hollywood is "out of ideas" they get angry when it tries something "different" and would rather go spend their money on Spider-man 8.

I felt Vantage Point was an intelligent thriller, and yes it had its' share of implausible plot points, but these were minor as the new technique makes you feel like you have an all-seeing surveillance system. I kind of felt like I was putting a puzzle together, piece by piece, and as you see a new point of view it adds more to the story and just when you think you have it figured out it changes again.

I must admit I went into the theatre interested, but skeptical. Slowly, I got drawn into things, and by the time the we were at the fourth vantage point, I was fascinated by how all the stories interrelated with each other, and wondering the story would end up.

The acting is uniformly excellent, especially that of Dennis Quaid, who I had previously considered a mostly comic actor, but is very convincing here as a Secret Service agent.

The direction and script are also excellent, especially when you consider both are first-timers in the world of feature films. The script was not without its clichés, but I didn't see most of the plot twists coming, which I can usually spot coming a mile away in a film like this. There was one real groaner of a plot twist that you'd have to be an idiot not to see, but it goes by so fast that it doesn't really matter.

A lot of the audience in the screening I was at got frustrated by the repeated sections, obviously having no attention span. But once the third act of the film kicks into gear, everybody stopped complaining.

Speaking of which, the third act is the payoff which we've all been waiting for. Seeing all the plot threads converge in such a convincing matter was nice, as was the final action scene, which seems like it was plucked right out of one of the Bourne films. This comes as little surprise, since director Pete Travis and Bourne series director Paul Greengrass have worked together in the past.

As skeptical as I had gone in, I came out impressed. Not since The Bourne Ultimatum have I seen such a convincing, engrossing action thriller.

What can I say? This film is a gimmick film that relates the same event through the eyes of eight different characters that each hold a piece of the puzzle. The film stops and rewinds back to 20 minutes before the event for each character. It gets a little annoying because each time it stops, the audience is left on a cliffhanger which carries the film's tension into the next character.

As for what the film promises, it promises a good puzzle, suspense and intense action. It delivers on all accounts. This plot has twists and turns and is completely logical. Half way through this movie, if you think you got it all figured out, you haven't got a clue.

The action is fairly balanced through out the film and keeps the film moving. The car chase in this film is one of the better ones I have seen in a long long time. It had some shots in it that I think were a small homage of the original The Italian Job (1969) car chase scene.

Even though I personally thought that some of the characters were paper thin, many of the actors gave strong performances that made the characters believable. Forest Whitaker was the best. I had a little problem with Dennis Quaid's character, Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes, starting out as the thinnest of all the characters but he grows in the film. Of course, Edgar Ramirez, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Eduardo Noriega were right on and make the film (but not as much as Whitaker).

The premise of this film makes a refreshing change from the ordinary style of mainstream movies.

One crime, multiple vantage points. Sounds cool right? Yes. But "Vantage Point" never really pulls it off quite how it sets itself up to. The result is a cool action flick with some clever storytelling that sort of fizzles in the end.

In "Vantage Point," the President of the United States (William Hurt) arrives in Salamanca, Spain to give a speech on global terrorism efforts and ties with Spain to improve them. He gets shot and then a bomb goes off killing many people. We get this story through the eyes of a variety of characters and by the end of the film know exactly what happened.

The cast is a solid mix of familiar and old faces. Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Matthew Fox (of LOST fame) and even Sigorney Weaver give this film the star power it requires. The terrorists are entirely new faces, which is no real surprise.

As the film first presents the vantage point concept, the first thirty or forty-five minutes develop a redundancy. You do get many new perspectives, but seeing the same events happen over and over again and the cheesy rewind sequences to establish a change in POV really gets a bit boring. Sometimes you're not really seeing something new, just the same old thing in a new way that doesn't really bring more insight into the plot. Sometime it does and it really helps the film, but mostly it's not the vantage points, but cutting the story off at pivotal moments and clues into the mystery so that when they're revealed in another perspective you can get excited. It's just good storytelling, nothing unique.

The film really loses its appeal, however, with the "final perspective." In fact, it's not really anyone's perspective. The writers sort of realized that adding five more perspectives to reveal the full mystery (which is what it would have taken) would really bother viewers and get absurdly repetitive, so they combined them all into a final twenty minute action sequence that is like any other normal action movie.

Was deviating from the concept in order to please viewers and keep the film short the best course of action? For this film, yes. Sticking to the concept would have made it bad considering the complexity of the plot. But even the ending can also be seen about 15 minutes prior to when it happens, so it's not really all that great. This film would have been better, however, if it could both stay true to the structural concept and please the viewer, which means first-time writer Barry Levy stretched his idea just a bit too far. ~Steven C

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.blogspot.com/

US President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) is in Salamanca, Spain , accompanied by his security agents (Matthew Fox and Dennis Quaid as agent newly returned from previous wounds) , for a world summit where an international treaty dealing with the fight against global terrorism will be signed and which was highly promoted by the USA . Then an unknown sniper is able to shoot him and a bomb goes off in the square and it causes panic , destruction , mass confusion and hysteria . Meanwhile , TV Executive Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver whose role was originally written as a male but filmmaker changed it to a woman because he felt the movie lacked a strong female character) is shooting the surprising deeds . The attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives , as from a tourist (in the original screenplay, the tourist was a Russian , as when Forest Whitaker auditioned for a different role, filmmaker was so impressed that he rewrote as an American tourist) or a Spanish police (Eduardo Noriega) o terrorists (Edgar Ramirez ,Saïd Taghmaoui , Ayelet Zurer) and fourth is the president himself . At the end new vantage point is shown revealing additional details, which definitively completes the flick of what really took place during the incident and who was involved in the conspiracy.

Stirring as well as exciting film packs noisy action , thrills , suspense , explosions , violence , twits and turns . Thrilling film with a peculiar edition narrated under several sight points , as various minutes are retold, emphasizing different characters' actions and gradually, we discover who's behind the script . The studio originally wanted to shoot the entire film in Salamanca, Spain, but the local government refused to close the Plaza Mayor for nearly 3 months and only the scenes filmed from the air were shot in Spain , as production was moved to Cuernavaca and Puebla, Mexico . Nevertheless , Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Forest Whitaker and director Pete Travis attended the premiere, held in Salamanca, Spain, on February 12, 2008 and City Hall declared them "Distinguished Guests". The original script set the story in Madrid, but the producers wanted a more "exotic" location. The fact is revealed in some scenes, like the secret service guy who says they can't locate a single person among "5 or 6 million" (Madrid's population; Salamanca's is much smaller), or when the cop enters a Muslim neighborhood during the foot chase , as Madrid has one, but Salamanca doesn't . Very good production design by Brigitte Boch , when shooting was moved to Mexico, the production design team built a replica of Salamanca's Plaza Mayor, which is slightly smaller than the original . There happens an impressive explosion on the Plaza , it was filmed by fifteen different cameras under direction of excellent photographer Amir Mokri who makes a colorful and evocative cinematography . Moving and adequate Original Music by Atli Örvarsson .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Pete Travis . He is a director and writer, known for Dredd (2012) , Omagh (2004) , End game (2008) , TV Henry VIII (2003) and Falcón (TV Series) 2012 , set in Sevilla , Spain . The precocious technical mastery displayed by Peter Travis in ¨Vantage Point¨ is magnificent and he delivers narrative fluidity , being helped by a splendid editor , Stuart Baird , both of whom carry out a complex story paced from multiple viewpoints . Rating : 7 . Interesting action film and it will appeal to thriller fans .

Dennis Quaid and William Hurt star in this action thriller with a twist (or better yet, gimmick): the events leading up to the attempted assassination of an American president who is visiting Spain are told from several individuals' points of view. These include Quaid as a Secret Service agent, Hurt as the president, Forest Whittaker as a camcorder-wielding tourist and Edgar Ramirez (a Javier Bardem lookalike) as a Spanish cop. Bruce McGill is the president's hawkish adviser. VANTAGE POINT is fine if you can take the constant rewinding of events to show them from each character's perspective. Personally, I would have preferred fewer rewinds. For my money, Whitaker's overly excited tourist walks away with the movie.

Some reviewers make it out to almost be a B-movie, but it isn't, not by a long shot.

The story revolves around the assassination of the US president who is attending a counter-terrorism summit in Spain. The film is told from multiple viewpoints and the events that transpire within a 23-minute time frame, thus a Groundhog Day-like experience.

Vantage Point is really just an action film . . . pure and simple. When seeing this film, don't expect a complex and deep storyline; it certainly isn't that. The proper approach is to just take it for what it is. I liked this film because it had no pretensions. It didn't want to pretend that it needs to be over-analyzed by the viewer. There are no lengthy sub-plots and behind-the-back conspiracy pieces, no need to explain who is fighting for what cause. And if you approach with this frame of mind, then I assure you, you won't get bored or disappointed.

It's a movie that doesn't need to be analyzed ad nauseam. It doesn't care about needing to tie up lose ends and explain all the circumstances surrounding the assassination. Approach it from *that* "vantage point" and you'll appreciate it more.

I was lucky enough to watch it during an event of a company I work for. I really enjoyed this movie, because of it's editing, wonderful actors and full packed action.

The movie tells the same story from 8 different persepectives, most of them from a character view, makes the puzzle clear till the end. Some puzzle parts can be guessed but this makes the movie so fun to watch.

Matthew fox acting could be better, but the others are convincing. Cheers to Ayelet Zorer, an Israeli actress who surprises again with her beauty and acting.

If you like thriller, action and car chases all in same movie then this movie is for you.

"Vantage Point" takes on a unique perspective for an action film. It shows the assassination of the U.S. President from eight separate points of view, and each time the new vantage point reveals something new about what is really going on. To some this may seem tedious, though I found it increasing engaging and suspenseful with each new point of view. The acting is good here. Dennis Quaid is truly engaged in his role, and one can feel the pressure and stress he must be under at the time. While the film is tons of fun to watch and try to figure out, it is not without a few flaws. First of all, there is almost no character development. The film moves along so quickly that we are really unable to learn very much about each individual character. We pick up that Forest Whitaker may be having trouble in his family life, but we do not really find out for sure. Dennis Quaid is stressed because he took a shot for the president the previous year, yet we do not find out much about him personally. It seems to me that everything turned out too coincidentally here, that everything just happened to come together at the end, just a bit unbelievable. Nevertheless, the film is not meant to be very monumental, and I found it very exciting and entertaining, being put at the edge of my seat. It's worth seeing and quite enjoyable, though don't expect a perfect film. One of the best from 2008 so far.

*** out of ****

Vantage Point is a movie directed by Pete Travis and written by Barry Levy. The movie follows the events of the president getting shot and goes through several different characters or different points and shows the event as they see it and what happens to them. The cast includes Denis Quad, Mathew Fox, William Hurt, Forrest Whitaker and Sigourney Weaver.

This movie was well under the radar for me as I didn't hear of it until seeing the trailer on a DVD for some over movie; I think it was "The Assignation of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford." So once seeing the trailer I automatically thought this looked like a ripper of a movie and I wasn't let down.

The story is greatly written and intertwined, i couldn't help but wonder how awkward and mind bending it would be to have read it on script.

Great acting by all in the cast, except for Mathew Fox, for me he just seemed like a less talkative Jack. Forrest Whitaker took the highlight for me though; he always steals the screen in a movie and doesn't fail here. His facial and tone just puts through to you the character greatly and makes you understand who is a lot better. Dennis Quad is his usual self and not much to say there, he is an American tough guy actor. I also though the two less Hollywood actors Edgar Ramirez and Said Taghmaoui did great job in portraying their characters and were stern on screen.

The movie was put together and shot great, when you just think you're about to find out something from the plot the rewind happens the camera angles are lined up great to keep you guessing.

I quite enjoyed this movie and found nothing at all bad about it. I'm giving it 7 and a half President shooting stars.

7.5 - www.dylanreviews.ning.com

I enjoyed the movie. Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker carried the movie and made it an enjoyable experience. For anyone that is easily made motion sick, the camera work is very shaky during the chase scene and had it lasted much longer would have detracted from the overall experience for me personally. The way the story was told was different but kept me engaged right to the end. I would recommend seeing this film if you get the chance.There is a little something for everyone here. Action, drama, a couple of jokes, and some nice views. There are some actors in this movie that may not be well known, but overall I think everyone in it did an adequate job. If you are a fan of Dennis Quaid you should really like this movie.

I just got home from seeing an early showing of this film and I just must say, "OH MY GOD...". Within the first 5 minutes easily, I was so engrossed that I couldn't look away. It was very intense. And although some may find the constant 'rewinding' to be annoying, I just found that it made it that much more awesome. Every 20 minutes or so you're right on the edge of your seat and are left hanging until the very end. It's one giant tease, but it's totally worth it. Definitely one of the smartest, and most well executed movies I can remember seeing. The whole ensemble is absolutely flawless. It had the perfect combination of action, suspense, and humor.

I just can't say enough good things about this movie. Please, go now.. and enjoy.

I couldn't remove my eyes from the screen for 90 minutes, Finally I saw a movie that really deserves to watch especially after the headache that came to me after watching Jumper in the Cinema.

I have to admit that this movie make me happy again .. After the disappointment I have been through after many movies, this movie give me a good feeling about this year, I hope that this year will be much better than the last one, hoping to see new thrillers that will make anyone shock about it stories and conclusion, Vantage Point is really a good start for the year, I know this movie is not awesome or even great ,but I found it a worth movie to watch.

Vantage Point: Good story, good visuals, amazing acting, high class of entertaining, I think this movie deserve a chance especially it is in the beginning of the year. If you want to see a thriller ,you have to watch Vantage Point.

8/10 for Entertainment

Overall Score: 7.5/10

'Vantage Point' is pretty much another corny clichéd thriller. For a while it was a trend in Hollywood movies to portray the Japanese as the bad guys. This was followed by Russians and now I suppose it's the Muslim Arabs turns to be the heartless 'bad guys' in overly patriotic American films. Riddened with clichés, overdone shaky camera which is supposed to be effective, over-the-top high tech, excessive overblown stunts, heavily intrusive suspense music and one ridiculous twist after the other is what forms 'Vantage Point'. The reason why I was excited about this film was because I had seen, what looked like appealing clips and an interesting cast. However, none of the actors get enough scope to perform. Their roles are clichéd to say the least and unidimensional. The cast includes: that includes Sigourney Weaver (the only one who does not annoy), Forest Whitaker (dude, you just won an Oscar and this is what you come up with next?), Matthew Fox (if you're gonna be picky about movies at least pick something worthwhile), Dennis Quaid (how many times do we have to see a way-passed-middle-aged man play the action hero who saves the world?), Said Taghmaoui (just look how impartial the filmmakers are that they cast an Arab to play a terrorist leader!), Eduardo Noriega (as the Spanish police who had no clue before it was too late), Ayelet Zurer (a hot she-terrorist who's obviously there for eye-candy), Zoe Saldana (the annoying reporter for whom we're supposed to feel sorry because of her untimely death)Edgar Ramirez (the typical innocent-guy-who's-forced-by-circumstances or else terrorists will kill his brother) and William Hurt (the American president who can do no wrong). Not surprising, the American president is this saintly man who just wants to do what's right and has everyone's best interest at heart and the terrorists are ruthless killers with no feelings but of course, as mentioned before, there's a female among them and the director has to stick to his usual clichés, so this she-terrorist looks hot and since she's a woman, she has to have some empathy which is shown when she hesitates to kill the hostage. Lucky for her, her male partner does the job. Oh and there's more: Yes, the non-Americans are shown as people who think Americans are arrogant...oh so much ridicule there is. This isn't the end. There are too many more to merely list in this comment. The thing is, I don't mind watching a fun action flick as long as it doesn't pretend to be something else and insult the viewers intelligence like this piece of crap did.