DVD Review: Vantage Point
Dennis Quaid Leads All-Star Cast in Sustainable Political Thriller.
Sep 13, 2008
Set during a presidential speech by the U.S. president while in Spain, Vantage Point examines how each character in the film interprets the circumstances surrounding this horrible assassination attempt -- be it from the point of view of a Secret Service Agent, an American tourist, a conspirator to the act itself, a news crew director, even the president himself --, and replays the same event, from all perspective points...or vantage point, hence the film's title.
Cast of Vantage Point
Dennis Quaid leads this impressive group of actors, as seasoned secret service agent Thomas Barnes. His role in the movie is one of point man to his protective detail, in the coverage of U.S. president Henry Ashton (the always cerebral William Hurt), as he delivers his speech to the masses in Salamanca, Spain.
During the speech, Barnes detects some possible suspicious movement of a curtain, at an upper floor window, hinting at a possible sniper in their midst. From there on, events unfold at a breakneck speed, as the shooting does occur, and Barnes seeks all manner of available input, both from a nearby tourist (Forest Whitaker) with his camcorder, to an American news crew with their multiple cameras, whose strings are pulled by experienced news pro Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver).
Barnes must figure out all of the elements of this shooting in record time, lest the culprits make a clean escape in the mass confusion and terror of the moment, with no one to explain how the president could possibly have been shot.
Clever Editing of Vantage Point What makes this film a clever exercise in mystery solving, is that the series of events described in the previous paragraph, is replayed seven more times during the film, but each time from a different character's point of view. Relative newcomer and director Pete Travis manages to extract a slightly different performance from each actor, for each repeated sequence. This allows the director to convey to the audience that sense of differential interpretation, often seen when multiple witnesses experience the same basic event.
Furthermore, rather than restrict the narrative to the American contingent, the film even shows us this roughly 23 minute long looped segment, from the point of view of the conspirators (Eduardo Noriega, Said Taghmaoui), as well as the president himself, another U.S. agent (Matthew Fox, of Lost fame), and the tourist (Whitaker), whose footage may prove vital to smoking out the killers from their well planned coup.
Overall Analysis of Vantage Point
The unusual concept of keeping the film to such a small time frame, replayed over and over, brings a touch of originality to this film. It allows the audience to tag along, and challenges them to try and piece the evidence together, Clue-style, before the later segments of the story are shown, where you are presented with the actual facts in the case.
The filmmaker gets what he needs from this ensemble cast, and the variety of his team of actors enhances the international flavor of the movie, and prevents it from being a vehicle for any one of his leading names on the movie poster. This is one of those films where the viewer doesn't remember just one actor from the overall cast, but rather how each contributed to the project in his own way, to improve the final product.
Think of how any one of the Lord of the Rings movies isn't thought of as starring Ian McKellan or Viggo Mortensen above all others. Rather, this film gives equal screen time to all -- Oscar winners Whitaker and Hurt included --- and offers a much better story for it. Dennis Quaid does offer a constant within each segment, to allow us to map out each clue.
Vantage Point DVD Extras
This disk has the standard bonus features, namely a featurette called "An Inside Perspective: Interviews with the Cast and Crew", where each actor and production member describe in detail how they approached this unusual storyline, and which part they believe is key to understanding the mystery at hand. Also featured is a downloadable digital copy of the film, seen more and more frequently on most recently released DVDs.
Also featured are segments of the stunt work involved in the main assassination action sequence, a handful of outtakes, and the director's feature length commentary, which in this writer's opinion should only be experienced after having viewed the film once.
This film is recommended to any solid thriller enthusiast, who loves a good mystery, as well as a non-stop, fast-paced action.
7.5 out of 10, for keeping the viewer glued to the tube for 90 non-stop minutes
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