Vantage Point (2008)

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 | Time | Salamanca Spain | Camera

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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 Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | 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:

Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Forest Whitaker and the director Pete Travis attended the premiere held in Salamanca, Spain, on February 12 2008. They were declared "Distinguished Guests" by the City Hall.

Goofs:

Continuity: Towards the end of the film when Kent Taylor is being shot at while driving, he is seen on the right of the car (through the windscreen) but just before he swerves into the concrete (before he realizes he is going to crash) he is seen on the left of the car (through the windscreen).

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 "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-02-23)" (2008)

What's The Point??

Vantage Point starts off with the incident that you see in all the trailers. An incident is all the story real amounts to. We watch the first POV from that of the news crew -- however, it is real not a point of view of any specific person, we just follow the action of certain people -- when the story reaches a certain point we quickly rewind to the next POV (kinda) from the same time (which time-code on the screen becomes part of the films laughable points) the first began.

In all, we watch a very repetitive story, and not much of an actual story at that. No character study, depth or explanation of why any characters do what they do (only a slight history on ONE character). While you do not need and in depth character study for all films, usually there is someone you emphasize with.

As I watch the film, the fourth time the story rewound, the scoffs in the theater had become out-loud laughs, and not the good kind, the kind that tells you the rest of the audience agrees with your own thought of how stupid the film really is.

In the end, there is no real story and surprisingly mediocre performances from actors who usually perform rather well. This usually indicates an unskilled director. When most actors in a film look bad, including those usually good, it is the director! Other than an attempt at a film exercise of some sort, when the film was over I could only ask, "What's the point of Vantage Point?"