vantage point
Vantage Point is a roller coaster ride of a movie, one of those flicks like last summer's Live Free or Die Hard that relies purely on momentum to keep your disbelief suspended, and director Pete Travis rarely allows the pace to slow enough for the plot holes to shine through. The minute you start to question the point-of-view cheats or the machinations of the most overly complex assassination attempt in history, Travis and his team throw another action sequence or plot twist into the mix to distract you.[1] Vantage point does that well. [2] Vantage Point takes place during a major world event where the President of the United States (played by William Hurt) has assembled a massive alliance of world leaders in a new plan to fight global terrorism. The movie happens all on the afternoon of a huge outdoor press conference in Spain with the leaders in front of cheering crowds.[3]Vantage Point starts to slide off the rails when it tracks a tourist (Forest Whitaker) and his trusty camcorder; instead of Zapruder-like intrigue, the episode has him running around like an agent in a rote thriller. The segments just get more ludicrous from there.[4] Vantage Point is dead set on providing an intricate puzzle with a number of players in a high octane thriller. The film never lets up, forcing you to watch everything so as to catch all of the pieces.[5] Vantage Point isn't really about the audience solving the mystery first as much as watching the mystery unfold and discovering the puzzle pieces alongside the characters, video cameras and cell phones being their primary crime-solving tools. Sure, you can make guesses along the way based on some minor clues, but you'd mostly be shooting in the dark.[6]
Vantage Point does have some moments of suspense, some moments of shock, some pretty good excitement and at least one surprise that anyone who says they could see it coming are sure to be lying to your face. Sure there is some horrible dialogue at the end of the movie.[7] Vantage Point offers a modicum of entertainment but it requires viewers to react more forcefully from the gut than the mind. It's viscerally effective but lobotomized.[8] Vantage Point is based on a script written by Barry Levy about a presidential assassination attempt. The script is told from five different points of view using the Rashomon narrative where the audience cannot figure out the truth because of contradicting eye witness accounts.[9]
Vantage Point is also distinguished by performances from several acclaimed international stars. Pete Travis says each brings something unique to the roles: "Eduardo Noriega is a huge star in Spain and I'm sure he'll become a star in America, because he's got great charisma.[10]
barnes
Barnes tackles a bearded man. There's a distant explosion.[11] Barnes makes it back to this scene. Spotting what happened and being the brilliant dude he is, he runs up to the ambulance and sees the President.[12] Barnes, a hero for saving the President from an assassin only a year earlier, is still uncertain about himself. Within moments of Ashton taking the podium, a hidden assassin shoots the president.[13]Barnes and Taylor run up to the man they saw earlier and Barnes insists on viewing the footage on the video camera . Barnes is fairly sure that he spotted the shooter in one of the windows and the man thinks he might have caught the assassin on film.[14]
despite
Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic.[16] Despite stiff competition from the upcoming Speed Racer, I still say it’s Evan Almighty, which inexplicably didn’t seem to mix up its shots chronologically or thematically AT ALL, thus providing essentially a straightforward three minute version of the film from start to finish. [17] Despite that, the movie is moderately entertaining, and the cast, with the exception of Matthew Fox, gives solid performances. Sigourney Weaver stands out in a smaller role as a cable news producer covering the story.[18]president
President ( William Hurt ) arrives, walks up to the podium, and is shot. In the ensuing panic, we hear a bomb go off a short distance away.[20] President Ashton's admirable policies, however, are all for naught. He is shot and killed, and a well-organized group of terrorists follow up the assassination with the detonation of two bombs nearby.[21] President Ashton (William Hurt) arrives in Salamanca, Spain to announce new international treaties and efforts in the fight against freedom's enemies. We open in a news van, as harried, hard-bitten producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver ) is orchestrating her camera team and reporters on scene.[22]President at an anti-terrorism summit in Spain. The argued novelty of writer Barry Levy's script and director Pete Travis' approach is the Rashomon -styled multiple perspective of the participants.[23] President is speaking at a landmark summit, and it's here where the audience experiences the same event repeatedly from different perspectives. While the trailer for the movie not only gives chunks of the story away (but thankfully not all the twists and turns), it doesn't reveal just how these multiple stories are told.[24]
film
Film historians would have you believe that the sequel phenomenon started with the Thin Man movies in the thirties. But they are way off.[25] Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot.[26]quaid
Quaid went on to say that the story will be set "a little bit in the future. In a way, the Joes are like this international, sort of special forces type of group that mainly fight these terrorist groups that spring up.[31] Quaid is entirely believable, and keeps us curious in the film long after the other performers have lost us. [32] Quaid does what he can with a role that appears to be little more than a cheap carbon copy of Clint Eastwood's similarly embattled presidential protector from In the Line of Fire , but after watching him dash hither and yon, searching for the truth in a plaza of lies, it's just not enough to make Vantage Point anything other than another pre-election also-ran. I shouldn't even bring up the outlandish – and preposterously clichéd – story contrivance that revolves around a young girl separated from her mother amidst the conflicting, ever-escalating crises (the poor little plot point ends up on a crowded highway, no less), but fuck it, I just did.[33]Quaid's damaged Secret Service agent is the closest the film has to a protagonist — even if it rehashes Clint Eastwood's role in In the Line of Fire — and he gives the role more gravity than it deserves. [34] Quaid hasn't looked this good in some time. His Secret Serviceman is filled with doubt and passion and longing to fix the mistakes of his past.[35]
nothing
Nothing makes any sense. That’s all you wanted anyway.[37] Nothing is unexpected, nobody challenges our preconceptions, and no event in the film makes us think its complex form is hiding a complex idea. [38]howard
Howard’s apparently congenital friendliness has him conversing briefly with Suarez, who is played by the excellent but perpetually typecast Saïd Taghmaoui, meaning, as soon as he shows up, you know he’s involved in the plot against the prez. [42] Howard’s apparently congenital friendliness has him conversing briefly with Suarez, who is played by the excellent but perpetually typecast Saïd Taghmaoui, meaning, as soon as he shows up, you know he’s involved in the plot against the prez. [43]watching,watch
Watching this American hero emerge unscathed from multiple collisions while chasing down ethnically ambiguous bad guys who speak fluent English, you realize that beneath its fancy fractured narrative, "Vantage Point" is old-fashioned in all the wrong ways. [44] Watching the movie is a rollercoaster. The camera takes you on a different ride each time for the several vantage points.[45]perhaps
Perhaps it was the thrill of being out without the children, but we both thouroughly enjoyed it. I have to admit that we only read what we had to about the film so that we didn’t know everything that was coming.[46] Perhaps less obviously, I hope the PLoS experiment succeeds as well. The model they have developed deserves a serious chance, and they have been given a good leg up by the $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.[47]secret
Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), who has just returned to duty after taking a hit for the President in an earlier attempt, tackles a Spaniard rushing toward the President, who is actually a cop with an urgent agenda of his own. Just minutes later, a huge explosion rocks the plaza.[53] Secret Service personnel, the assassins, the president, a vacationer, Spanish security and a news agency. Each time the shooting and bombing is rewound, another piece of the puzzle falls into place for the audience.[54]matthew
Matthew Fox really wasn't in it enough, nor did he have a big enough impression in the film to be seen as giving a good acting performance or not. William Hurt, it must be said, was disappointing, which is a rare thing for him, but he really delivered nothing to his character, the President of the United States.[55] Matthew Fox, who contrary to "Knocked Up", I do think there are many interesting things about - is given such limited screen time & dialogue here that it could have been played by any number of the background performers and wasn't worthy of the guy who gave a great performance in "We Are Marshall". William Hurt - again, coming off the back of a great role in "Mr.[56]