When a film attempts to tell the same story through various different perspectives, you have to keep that story interesting and constantly add new things to the scene. Atonement recently did this in a very smart way that made watching the same scene over and over again a joy and continuously illuminating. However, some films try to make the same scene engrossing, yet do not pull it off. Vantage Point tries hard to be compelling, yet just misses the mark.
Vantage Point is the story of an attempted presidential assassination at a groundbreaking conference in Salamanca, Spain that ends up being told through eight different persepectives. The attack is seen through the eyes of several people, including the weathered, bodyguard (Dennis Quaid of In Good Company, The Rookie), the fresh, young bodyguard (Matthew Fox of We Are Marshall, TV's Lost), the American tourist (Forest Whitaker of The Last King of Scotland, The Great Debaters), the television producer covering the event (Sigourney Weaver of The TV Set, Alien) and even the President of the United States (William Hurt of A History of Violence, Syriana). With each different person's perspective being shown, the story begins all over again and reviews the twenty-three minutes that the film takes place during. This setup seems interesting at first, but after several times, this gimmick becomes weak and trite over time.
The characters in Vantage Point are a cliched bunch that seem like they have been taken from television shows like 24 and Boomtown. Director Pete Travis and writer Barry Levy have their backgrounds in television, which seems apparent. The directing combines a style of handheld and conventional cameras, very reminiscent of 24 and its influence is very apparent in every aspect of the film. Vantage Point's idea of showing the film through all of the main characters' eyes is taken directly from Boomtown and its idea of counting down the time that is repeated once again reeks of influence from 24 and movies like Nick of Time and Run Lola Run. With characters like the guard getting a second chance, the president's Cabinet member who tries to force his will on the president and the idealistic reporter, makes for characters that seem too familiar and almost laughable when asked to be taken seriously. Vantage Point takes some genuinely great actors, such as Dennis Quaid and Forest Whitaker and puts them in laughable roles that seem less compelling and intriguing and more of a waste of their talent.
The dialogue tries to be poignant with its warnings of oncoming terrorist attacks and our policies towards other nations, but these parts just seem tacked on. The script thinks it is more suspenseful then it really is and ends up not being as surprising at it may seem. The film is repetitive for the first three-fourths, then tries to wrap up all of its loose ends weakly at the very end. Near the end, Dennis Quaid's character Thomas Barnes just blatantly says, "we need to tie up all of the loose ends." The script seems very banal and almost seems like a forgettable late night cable movie. With a film like this, the editing needs to be very specific and distinct. The editing ends up being sloppily done and repetitive. The film becomes frustrating due to the overused scenes and its repetitive nature becomes one of Vantage Point's weakest points.
Vantage Point is merely a decent film. While all the elements have been seen before, together they make for a watchable movie that does have its share of action and is able to keep the audience interested long enough to stick it out. Vantage Point always seems like it is on the edge of being a great film, but never seems to fix the flaws that plague it. The action builds quite slowly and ends with an unoriginal and unsurprising climax that seems obvious the further the film goes on. Vantage Point has enough to warrant a viewing, but once just may be enough.
Rating: C
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