You would expect that retelling the same event over and over would get a little tedious. To be sure, the cheesy back-track special effect followed by timestamp reminiscent of television’s “24” was completely unnecessary. (In my screening the audience simultaneously laughed and groaned with every rewind.) The editing, however, is superb and the intensity continues to build as the stakes get higher with each vignette.
In addition to one of the most white-knuckled car chases put on film in recent history, Vantage Point does an excellent job early on showing you how difficult it must be to protect a President. Staring into a screaming crowd of hundreds, maintaining focus while submerged in potential danger must be a nightmare for the handful of man assigned to take a bullet for their charge. These harrowing crowd scenes are incredibly effective.
Regrettably for the A-list actors here, such a high concept, plot-driven film leaves little opportunity for them to showcase their talent. We don’t really get more than one emotion out of each of them because, quite frankly, there isn’t much time. The folks who really shine, however, are the relative unknowns who portray the terrorists and innocents forced into the whole scheme.
Unlike many movies lately that deal with terrorism, the film wastes little time moralizing. If the story is to be faulted, it all ties up a little too neatly in the end. But for the price of a small amount of “belief suspension,” action movie fans will likely enjoy this electrifying thriller. So many action films work so much better on paper than on screen. Fortunately, the well executed Vantage Point keeps the intensity level high, giving its unusual plot device an impressive day in the sun.
CAUTIONS:
- Language/Profanity: A scattering of profanity throughout. Lord's name taken in vain a few times.
- Drugs/Alcohol: None.
- Sex/Nudity: None.
- Violence: Plenty of mostly bloodless violence. We see the president shot several times as the assassination attempt is replayed. Bombings and their aftermath show little gore but many bodies. A bomb goes off inside a plaza crowded with people. Intense and destructive car chase scene. Many different time people are shot or shot at. A man running from the Secret Service is hit by a car on two different occasions. A confused child wanders on to a highway. Suicide bomber blows himself up in a hotel lobby. Several people killed or badly injured in brutal car crashes. A man is drugged and kidnapped.