Vantage Point is a non-stop action packed film that takes the audience back in time with eight different points of view in order to unravel an assassination attempt on a President of the United States. Unlike Hitman (2007), Vantage Point is largely dependent on the judgment of the audience as the story slowly unfolds.
SPOILER WARNING: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana) is GNN’s television reporter covering on site during a summit in Spain on the war on terror, in which President of the United States (William Hurt) has managed to gather the leaders of seven continents to address the issue on the global war on terror. Meanwhile, Secret Service Special Agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) are assigned to protect U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt). Moments after the President’s arrival, a couple of shots are fired and the President is injured. In the mist of chaos and disorder, an American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) comes forward with his HDV camcorder, which he believes he has recorded the image of the shooter.
As Angie Jones and her producer Rex Brooks (Signourney Weaver) is covering the tragic event on television, another bomb explodes and instantly claims many lives including Angie. While the movie unfolds, it will take us to eight different points of view, 23 minutes before the shooting occurs.
The main characters include Javier (Edgar Ramirez), Veronica (Ayelet Zurer) former lover of Enrique, Suarez (Said Taghmaoui) a possible terrorist, Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) an undercover police who protects the mayor and a young Spanish girl named Anna (Alicia Zapien).
Special Agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Holden (Richard T. Jones) thought Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) is the main suspect
Right at the end as the story is finally revealed through all eight different angles, Howard Lewis, the American tourist is a real hero as he has saved Anna from a near accident while Special Agent Thomas Barnes manages to escape death despite having his car entirely damaged by a huge truck and after an impressive car chase on his partner Kent Taylor, of whom has betrayed the Americans and finally manages to save President of the United States. Suarez is the mastermind behind the assassination attempt, he even knows since the beginning that the Americans uses a double for the summit after the NSA has received threats but he’s killed in the end by the invincible Agent Barnes.
Really ingenious play of different camera angles, different point of views from different people of different background, this movie is surely innovative in terms of cinematography. Despite the mysterious fact that Agent Barnes can’t die (he has managed to dodge a bullet in an earlier assassination attempt on the US President previously), the little girl is saved and her mother is alive, the American tourist is also alive and kicking and is seen talking to his family on the phone in the end, and the US President is somewhat, kidnapped instead of being shot when there’s a point blank opportunity, the movie is otherwise, awesome.
My rating: 8 out of 10.
Popularity: 3% [?]
