Keeping up with this post-modern, hybrid, hyphenated world, VANTAGE POINT, the new up-to-the-minute political thriller by Pete Travis (late of television projects) wants to be more than just one thing, almost fully succeeding in its attempts.
In the same vein as other political nail-biters, including everything from the 1980s film NO WAY OUT to 1974's THE PARALLAX VIEW to more recent fare such as AIR FORCE ONE, this film puts the righteous United States and its president in jeopardy during an anti-terrorism rally in Salamanca, Spain. At the same time, through the first two-thirds of the film, the story is told and retold from the multiple points of view of the characters who are most integrally involved in the events which unfold.
Wanting it both ways, Travis and the filmmakers try to ratchet up their telling with clever revelations, intricate plot machinations, and unforeseen developments which make VANTAGE POINT more in the lines of THE USUAL SUSPECTS, RUN LOLA RUN, and the even more delicately plotted MEMENTO. Alas, after all is said and done, the last half hour devolves into a basic heroic action story that relies on nearly impossible coincidences and an overlong car chase to make that which came before nearly irrelevant. It's as if the filmmakers ultimately distrusted their gimmicky but reliable plot structure and defaulted to simple hi-octane adventure fare in the end.
Amazingly enough, this project attracted top baby-boomer talent, from recently heralded Forest Whitaker, to Dennis Quaid and William Hurt, to a small part for Sigourney Weaver. All of them, plus the character actors, provide a convincing enough environment which drives the story whose details are best left to the viewer, lest some of VANTAGE POINT's secrets be spoiled in advance.
Surely, it's a cliche to say that they had me till the end, but in this case, one feels as though two types of movies were delivered and the filmmakers did not have the conviction to stay with either type for the full and very brisk 90 minutes.
VANTAGE POINT - Review
