Vantage Point (2008)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Pete Travis

Writer (WGA):

Barry Levy (written by)

Release Date:

22 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth.

Plot:

The attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives.

Plot Keywords:

President | Secret Service | Agent | Secret Service Agent | Salamanca Spain

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Thomas Barnes
Matthew Fox	...	Kent Taylor
Forest Whitaker	...	Howard Lewis
Bruce McGill	...	Phil McCullough
Édgar Ramírez	...	Javier (as Edgar Ramirez)
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Suarez
Ayelet Zurer	...	Veronica
Zoe Saldana	...	Angie Jones (as Zoë Saldana)
Sigourney Weaver	...	Rex Brooks
William Hurt	...	President Ashton
James LeGros	...	Ted Heinkin (as James Le Gros)
Eduardo Noriega	...	Enrique
Richard T. Jones	...	Holden
Holt McCallany	...	Ron Matthews
Leonardo Nam	...	Kevin Cross

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Finland:K-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Hong Kong:IIA | Malaysia:U | Norway:15 | Australia:M | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42768) | Ireland:12A | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:12 | Sweden:11 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Taiwan:PG-12 | UK:12A | Malta:12 | Greece:K-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:14 | Peru:14 | Canada:14A | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

There were talks between the studio and the Salamanca Film Commision to shoot the entire film in the Spanish city, but it was considered inviable after the local authorities refused to close the Plaza Mayor during nearly 3 months. As a result, the production was moved to the Mexican cities of Cuernavaca and Puebla. Only the scenes filmed from the air were shot in the real Salamanca.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At a point, the character Phil McCullough says: "I know that sir, but we're looking for five people out of six million. We are trying." Salamanca, Spain, is a city of roughly 160,000 people.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mark Reinhart: Good morning, America. It's now 12 noon in Salamanca, Spain. In a short time, world leaders from over 150 countries meet here in Plaza Mayor to sign up to President Ashton's bold new counterterrorist strategy. Since 9/11, more than 4500 people have been killed in the rising tide of global terror...

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Getaway: (#17.5)" (2008)

The all-seeing eye

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.