The adrenalin-laced, political conspiracy thriller "Vantage Point" depicts the shooting of an American president from eight standpoints. For the sake of simplicity, half as many perspectives would have been plenty, especially since few of the characters in this tense, white-knuckled nonsense are even remotely fascinating. The audience that I sat with chuckled each time director Pete Travis literally rewound the action that occurred in the opening 10 minutes to show the president taking two bullets in the chest before a terrific explosion obliterates the stage and sends everybody scrambling and screaming. Once this set-piece has been replayed ad nauseam during the first hour, "Vantage Point" regains its momentum during its remaining half-hour with an improbable but hair-raising car chase through narrow streets in an obvious homage to "The Bourne Identity." U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt of "The Big Chill") arrives in Salamanca, Spain, where he is to headline a landmark summit on counter-terrorism. A packed crowd of spectators greet him enthusiastically while Secret Service agents ogle everybody as a possible assassin. One of the President's bodyguards, Agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid of "Wyatt Earp"), is back on the job after taking a bullet for Ashton a year ago. Barnes' colleagues, Agents Taylor (Matthew Fox of "Smoking Aces") and Holden (Richard T. Jones of TV's "Judging Amy") think that Barnes has lost his nerve. Remember the Clint Eastwood character in the superior thriller "In the Line of Fire" (1993) and you'll have a clue about Quaid's queasy character. Meanwhile, a crew for the Global Network News has about as many roving cameramen in the crowd as security officials, and producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver of "Alien") coordinates their efforts as well as her correspondent on the scene, Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana of "Guess Who"), as the presidential motorcade wheels into the plaza. No sooner has President Ashton reached the podium than gunshots erupt and he crumples backwards wounded on the stage.
"Vantage Point" suffers from several problems. Some characters come and go, while you wish some would just leave. For example, the Sigourney Weaver character hangs around just long enough to establish the Spanish setting and provide background about Dennis Quaid's troubled character and then she vanishes. On the other hand, Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker loiters on the sidelines as the least interesting character. He's walked out on his wife and kids and doesn't know what to do except attend the summit. However, he does show up again to rescue an innocent bystander in the last quarter hour. Talk about a great actor being wasted in a thankless role. The people that play the terrorists are cast according to stereotype. They are swarthy, dark-haired, suspicious-looking types that we never learn anything about, so the conspiracy part of this thriller is never sufficiently laid out. One of the terrorists has been coerced into participating because his brother is being held hostage by his colleagues, but too much information is missing from Barry Levy's screenplay so you cannot sympathize with either brother. The incomparable William Hurt looks sorely miscast as the president, too. It's doubtful that any politician with as little hair as Hurt has could charm voters into putting him in the White House. Worst, between the assassination attempt and the car chase, "Vantage Point" spends so much time rewinding the same action that the surprising are more annoying than interesting.
Freshman director Pete Travis borrows an idea first done by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in his 1954 art-house hit "Rashomon." In that classic, four people tell different versions of the same story from their perspectives. The Kurosawa classic was remade in 1964 as a Paul Newman western called "The Outrage," but the movie that most filmgoers will compare "Vantage Point" with is the 1993 Bill Murray comedy "Groundhog Day." Unfortunately, these shuffling perspectives grow tiresome despite the additions that they furnish to plot. The last half-hour of "Vantage Point" provides some welcome relief with a slam-bang car chase that defies believability. Indeed, the Secret Service may see its applicant pool rise as a result of the indestructible nature of the Dennis Quaid hero who survives everything thrown at him.
The first-rate ensemble cast gives the hackneyed "Vantage Point" everything that they can muster, especially Quaid as a veteran Secret Service agent haunted by memories of a previous assassination attempt when he shielded Ashton. When everything is said and done, this high-octane, nail-biter depends on a tedious flashback gimmick to pump up its formulaic thrills and contrived chills in an incredibly convoluted plot that ultimately confuses more than it compels.
"Vantage Point" suffers from several problems. Some characters come and go, while you wish some would just leave. For example, the Sigourney Weaver character hangs around just long enough to establish the Spanish setting and provide background about Dennis Quaid's troubled character and then she vanishes. On the other hand, Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker loiters on the sidelines as the least interesting character. He's walked out on his wife and kids and doesn't know what to do except attend the summit. However, he does show up again to rescue an innocent bystander in the last quarter hour. Talk about a great actor being wasted in a thankless role. The people that play the terrorists are cast according to stereotype. They are swarthy, dark-haired, suspicious-looking types that we never learn anything about, so the conspiracy part of this thriller is never sufficiently laid out. One of the terrorists has been coerced into participating because his brother is being held hostage by his colleagues, but too much information is missing from Barry Levy's screenplay so you cannot sympathize with either brother. The incomparable William Hurt looks sorely miscast as the president, too. It's doubtful that any politician with as little hair as Hurt has could charm voters into putting him in the White House. Worst, between the assassination attempt and the car chase, "Vantage Point" spends so much time rewinding the same action that the surprising are more annoying than interesting.
Freshman director Pete Travis borrows an idea first done by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in his 1954 art-house hit "Rashomon." In that classic, four people tell different versions of the same story from their perspectives. The Kurosawa classic was remade in 1964 as a Paul Newman western called "The Outrage," but the movie that most filmgoers will compare "Vantage Point" with is the 1993 Bill Murray comedy "Groundhog Day." Unfortunately, these shuffling perspectives grow tiresome despite the additions that they furnish to plot. The last half-hour of "Vantage Point" provides some welcome relief with a slam-bang car chase that defies believability. Indeed, the Secret Service may see its applicant pool rise as a result of the indestructible nature of the Dennis Quaid hero who survives everything thrown at him.
The first-rate ensemble cast gives the hackneyed "Vantage Point" everything that they can muster, especially Quaid as a veteran Secret Service agent haunted by memories of a previous assassination attempt when he shielded Ashton. When everything is said and done, this high-octane, nail-biter depends on a tedious flashback gimmick to pump up its formulaic thrills and contrived chills in an incredibly convoluted plot that ultimately confuses more than it compels.