2008 Woodie Awards
Vantage point misses point, literally
Alan Sharp, Contributor
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Entertainment
The new political thriller "Vantage Point" is an entertaining, inventive movie… for the first half. Unfortunately, the second half becomes a mediocre made-for-TV action movie desperately trying to maintain momentum by blatantly ripping off the Matt Damon "Bourne…" films and other sources.
"Vantage Point" follows a terrorist plot to assassinate the President of the United States to disrupt a major international peace initiative taking place in Spain. The title comes from the plot device of seeing the terrorists' plan unfold from the different vantage points of several key players in the movie.
This part of the movie, which makes up the first half, is quite entertaining, even clever. Each segment starts at noon and runs through the assassination attempt. Shortly after the shots ring out, we get to see the film literally rewind and take us back to noon to start over from a different point of view. Once these sequences have run their course, though, the problems begin.
First-time screenwriter Barry Levy has left holes in this story big enough for me to drive my Jeep through with plenty of rooms to open the doors on both sides. I'm all for suspending my disbelief at the movies, but some of the stretches in logic going on in the second half of this flick were too much for even me. Also, anyone even paying partial attention can figure out what the film's "big twist" is going to be. I figured it out in one line of dialogue ten minutes into the movie and was proven right in the problematic second half.
Considering the film's 1970's-esque "All Star Cast," I'm disappointed this wasn't a better movie. The cast features Sigourney Weaver ("Alien"), William Hurt ("A History of Violence"), Dennis Quaid ("The Day After Tomorrow") doing an odd Harrison Ford in "Air Force One" impression, Matthew Fox ("Lost") and Forrest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland"), following many famous actors habits of following up an Academy Award winning performance by appearing next in a big-budget mess.
The first half saves this from being a complete piece of crap but wasn't enough to save me from my extreme sense of disappointment at the wasted potential of this film.
"Vantage Point" follows a terrorist plot to assassinate the President of the United States to disrupt a major international peace initiative taking place in Spain. The title comes from the plot device of seeing the terrorists' plan unfold from the different vantage points of several key players in the movie.
This part of the movie, which makes up the first half, is quite entertaining, even clever. Each segment starts at noon and runs through the assassination attempt. Shortly after the shots ring out, we get to see the film literally rewind and take us back to noon to start over from a different point of view. Once these sequences have run their course, though, the problems begin.
First-time screenwriter Barry Levy has left holes in this story big enough for me to drive my Jeep through with plenty of rooms to open the doors on both sides. I'm all for suspending my disbelief at the movies, but some of the stretches in logic going on in the second half of this flick were too much for even me. Also, anyone even paying partial attention can figure out what the film's "big twist" is going to be. I figured it out in one line of dialogue ten minutes into the movie and was proven right in the problematic second half.
Considering the film's 1970's-esque "All Star Cast," I'm disappointed this wasn't a better movie. The cast features Sigourney Weaver ("Alien"), William Hurt ("A History of Violence"), Dennis Quaid ("The Day After Tomorrow") doing an odd Harrison Ford in "Air Force One" impression, Matthew Fox ("Lost") and Forrest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland"), following many famous actors habits of following up an Academy Award winning performance by appearing next in a big-budget mess.
The first half saves this from being a complete piece of crap but wasn't enough to save me from my extreme sense of disappointment at the wasted potential of this film.
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