Rashomon. There - it's been said, and I can move on.Anyway, Vantage Point takes a not-so-novel concept - telling a story from several points of view - and really doesn't do much with it. The plot centers on an anti-terrorism summit taking place in Spain, where the U.S. President ("Ashton") is set to speak. On the scene are hundreds of Spaniards, scads of media, the Secret Service, tourists, and of course...terrorists. It's no spoiler to tell you that the President (William Hurt) gets shot, and almost even less of a spoiler to tell you that it's really not the President (POTUS) that gets shot, but his body double.
Letting that detail out in the trailer for the film was just the first of many mistakes made by the studio/producers, seeing as how it's one of two big twists in store for the viewer, and really, the bigger of the two. I guess that just goes to show the lack of confidence that was given the picture after the final product was delivered.
The film starts out pretty good, putting the viewer first in the news van of the fictional GNN (Global News Network), where the lead producer (played by a severely underused Sigourney Weaver) and her team watch the action unfold, first starting with POTUS's arrival, through a speech by the town's mayor and past the "assassination." Quickly, the film rewinds to three seconds before noon and starts again, this time form another perspective...and so on...and so on. Eventually, five or six iterations (I lost count) of the tale are unfolded, each giving not only a different perspective, but giving a few more details along the way and seeming to go on longer than the previous segment.
This presents another problem. Had this been presented in the style of the Johnny Depp flick Nick of Time (which played out in real time), perhaps the filmmakers would have realized that their editing was all wrong. Since the concept calls for each segment to play out over the same amount of time (let's say 15 minutes), then each segment should accordingly be roughly the same amount of time than its predecessor (a few seconds here or there could certainly be forgiven). This is not the case at all. The first segment with the news team last for maybe 10 minutes, while the last, which is a bit scattered in terms of which characters are being followed, is neverending, featuring a terminally long car chase that lasts much longer than it should, even by the film's timing. Besides, shouldn't the car chase be one of the more exciting parts of the movie?
To top it all off, there are several inconsistencies and/or continuity errors that also cannot be forgiven, considering that the entire concept of the film is based on the same set of events and timing. An explosion that happens immediately after X in segment two should happen at pretty much the same time (or, um, exactly) in segment three. If there was a Razzie for Worst Editing, Vantage Point would be a lock to win it. Throw in some unnecessary sentimentality and too-late-for-the-game character development and that more than kills the goodwill made up by a strong international cast (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Bruce McGill and a favorite of mine, Said Taghmaoui, are also on board).
Fletch's Film Rating:
"Whatever."
(PS - Just a warning: while not on the level of the Bourne flicks or Cloverfield, Vantage Point is filled with shaky cam, so if you do decide to see it and are susceptible to nausea, take a Dramamine.)
