Vantage Point (Single-Disc Edition)

If you like watching drawn out car chases, explosions, and a lot of people getting killed, this is the movie for you. If you want a story, forget it. There's one in there somewhere, but it's not important. What's important is that Dennis Quaid/Bruce Willis/Harrison Ford gets to play the super hero because he's fasterstrongersmarterkeener than all the others and --- oh yeah--- he's indestructible. Meanwhile, this movie suspends all space and time when Forest Whitaker, who looks like he normally doesn't run after anything more than the ice cream truck, somehow manages to keep up with the Secret Service all across town while 1) calling his wife, 2) saving the little girl (of COURSE there's a sweet little girl to interrupt the violence), 3) filming the whole thing-- never mind they got a good head start. And what took the cop about 5 minutes to cover on foot somehow took drivers at full speed (through downtown Salamanca, at that) about 20 minutes to arrive at the same location... AFTER the cop, who had time to catch his breath before they arrived. Then of course there are the Secret Service, shooting wildly into the crowd to stop some guy they think MAYBE is involved in the shooting/bombing/abduction, even though they saw his cop badge.It started out so promising. It really seemed like it was going to be an intriguing thriller/political mystery with some great actors. Instead it's just another comic book action flick. So disappointing. (But you do get a few great aerial shots of old Salamanca.)

I didn't care for it. The idea was to show the same incident from different perspectives (I think) to add dimension to the situation.To me, it came across as frustrating,Took too long to make a point that could have been made in half the time.

Great actors wasting their time on a putrid film. I guess since the "news" replays stories over and over that would work for a movie. Wrong! It is incredibly boring to have to watch the same scenes over and over again.

I don't do reviews. But this was the biggest let down, in part due to the high reviews, in part due to the cast, and finally due to the promise of an interesting "Blow Up" (conspiracy mystery caught on tape) meets Momento meets Tom Clancy story.Sigourney Weaver plays a news producer, an almost famous Zoe Saldana plays a reporter. They seem to see the pace for what we would assume to be a crucial part of unravelling the mystery for multiple points of view. William Hurt is the president, maybe we will get some high level decision making from him? Dennis Quaid has a history of taking a bullet for the president, but maybe he's a little shakey and doesn't have what it takes? Forest Whitaker is a random tourist with a handy cam. Maybe he has seen something? And some foreign actors you've seen playing the same roles, probably middle eastern, even though they're not all from the middle east.Yes: we see the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Does it change or offer a significant difference in view point? No. I get the premise, but it's bad. We know where the story is going, we know what the plot is going to generally be. Starting us over and over again has no weight when we know the story. And it seems like we see it repeated too many times because we do. After the third time it's clear there is no significant change and there is no secret to be found. Its a linear story line pretending to be complex and uncertain.The news crew of Weaver and Saldana are not only completely irrelevant to the plot, but they could have just as well been replaced by nobodies. Their screen time is... What,... Two minutes? William Hurt as the president, also who cares. No significant presence on the screen. Forest Whitaker? For a moment or two it's like he's trying to win an Oscar. But like most of the dialogue throughout, his lines are generic and he's just being the base level Forest Whitaker character. And then there is the hero, Dennis Quaid. It could have just as well not been him and I wouldn't have known the difference. He's like, "I've seen people play secret service agents before. I know how to do this." Sure, he wasn't written well. But also, I'd expect some star power here.This movie was worse than the basic action movie because it's like they took the basic action movie premise and chewed it up and puked it out five times and then we still had to watch the chewing and puking process.

Vantage Point is a political thriller as the president of the United States faces an assassination attempt in Spain. The movie covers the day of the event through the eyes of the secret service, the media, a Spanish policeman, and a tourist who witnessed the event hence the title vantage point as it goes through different views. The movie focuses upon political intrigue and terrorism.The movie tries to play at a Roshomon type plot as the attack is seen from a number of different perspectives each one a little different from the other. It makes for an effective and interesting story telling device.The movie is good at creating a tight and fast moving story that keeps the audience’s attention.C

Not sure what message the director wants to convey! 2-3 times are fine, if it keeps repeating over and over again, I think it's crazy.

This is a cleverly worked film which, with each replay of the violent scenes depicted, allows the viewer to begin piecing the jigsaw of the plot together. But if you don’t like scenes of hardcore violence and emotional distress, it will make for some gentle souls like myself, painful viewing. Having read one or two of the reviews above I am appalled that parents would consider letting their young teenage children watch this movie. Perhaps there is a certain appeal in seeing evil punished with the film’s ruthless conclusion and I get that some people might enjoy watching a film which is relentlessly fast paced and clinical from start to finish. But I find something very callous and disturbing about watching ordinary people gunned down in cold blood by terrorists. Definitely not one I’d watch again!

This is really intelligent thriller. An assassination story is told from five perspectives. The repeated action is enhanced by the change of angle. Slowly a true picture of what is going on emerges. You have to pay attention. The acting and a tion sequences are exciting without being over the top.

When this first came out I was not overly interested in seeing this film, but thankfully I was able to buy this for just £2.50, so I thought I'd give it a chance, to say the least I'm very pleased that I did.I tend to watch between 30-50 films per week and I can honestly say that this is the best film I've seen for at least a month or so.The way that this film is portrayed going from one person or set of persons perspective are superbly inter-twined, the suspense and tension is cranked up a notch with the telling of each persons own view point or vantage point.It's a film that had me on the edge of my seat from the start to the very end and I think that both the director and editor deserve a huge amount of credit for keeping the film flowing from one view point to the next and it's not until the last 10 minutes or so that everything comes together via a terrific car chase, we then see the end of some of the view points as well as the conclusion as to what the final outcome is too.I'll certainly be watching this for years to come, but if nothing else I'd highlt recommend hiring if nothing else.

Having purchased this on Amazon for under £2, i must confess i was blown away by it. Putting aside all the negative reviews here, i found the film to be a highly entertaining action thriller, which starts slow, but accelerates steadily into overdrive at the end.Like most films that emphasise action, character development and complex plot evolution are not priorities, but both are sufficient to keep the entertainment coefficient high.The long car chase scene has great choreography and is just thrilling to watch; it rivals the classic car chases in "The French Connection" and "Ronin" and the Bourne movie. Well worth watching at least once. Directed by Peter Travis.8/10

Absolutely gripping fast moving action film - I won't give away the story but it starts with assassination of the US President while making a speech in Spain, the viewer then being taken on a journey of this and the ensuing events through all different witnesses or participants eyes.