Movies / Movie Reviews

Vantage Point

By Hervé St-Louis
March 15, 2008 - 13:09

Vantage Point
Genres: Drama and Thriller Running Time: 1 hr. 30 min. Release Date: February 22nd, 2008 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language. Distributors:  Sony Pictures Releasing
Production Co.:  Original Film
Studios:  Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group
U.S. Box Office: $51,536,985 Filming Locations: Mexico City, Mexico
Produced in: United States
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Edgar Ramirez, Zoe Saldana



The American President is in Barcelona, attending a conference on terrorism where he will be asked to sign an important international treaty. Against his aides’ advice, the President addresses the crowd in a busy public square. Watching this historic event is an American 24-hour news channel, an American tourist, a semi-retired bodyguard, a Spanish police officer and several other interested parties.  But suddenly, the President is shot. What will happen?



Vantage Point re-enacts the whole assignation attempt through the eyes of several witnesses, building up the story at every pass a little more. Although the premise is interesting, Vantage Point will be known as a forgettable exercise of storytelling technique more than a polished political thriller. The methodical re-enactment of the assassination is convincing, but starting with the third re-enactment, the trick grew old and the audience in the theatre started laughing instead of taking the film seriously. If your audience laughs, then it no longer connects with the narrative, and fails to suspend disbelief.



This is not good for a film, whose main hook is the multiple viewpoint people have.  Had the film gone into the territory of “do not trust what you see and hear about the media and the world” it might have succeeded in sharing a greater message than a formula based on a weak plot premise. What follows next is a succession of unbelievable events that culminate in the most stupid ending of a movie in 2008. Just when everything becomes interesting, that’s where the traditional Hollywood ending kicks in. What if, and I repeat, what if the filmmakers had allowed the bad guys’ plot to move ahead just for once? Instead, viewers are comfortably reassured that everything is business as usual.



Visually, Vantage Point doesn’t use the opportunity to colour the scenes with the particular viewpoint of all its participants. The objective narrator - the camera filming and telling all these stories always has the same voice, the same quality, the same viewpoint. How can this be a film about differing vantage points?



6/10

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51