18th March, 2008

DAVID ADAMS

Vantage Point (M)

In A Word: Flashback (and back, and back, and back...)

LOST?: Matthew Fox plays Secret Service agent Kent Taylor in Vantage Point. "The suspense is generally maintained well but in the end this film is let down by a seemingly hastily arranged conclusion which stretches credulity to the limit."

It starts with a simple enough storyline. Television news producer Rex Brooks (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her team are covering an event in Spain at which the President of the United States is about to give a landmark speech in the war against terror when he is shot and, moments later, the city is rocked by two massive explosions.

So far sounds like a typical thriller but what sets this film apart is that it then retraces its steps and replays the same events from the angles of seven other people involved with the events of the day; with each eyewitness bringing more information to eventually build a comprehensive picture of what happened on the day before culminating in an all encompassing conclusion.

The cast includes some big names who generally put in solid, if not stellar, performances - Dennis Quaid plays Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes, Lost’s Matthew Fox plays his colleague Kent Taylor, William Hurt plays President Ashton, Forest Whitaker American tourist Howard Lewis and, of course Weaver plays the TV chief - although, to be fair, the nature of the film means that with the exception perhaps of Thomas Barnes, we don’t get to know any of the characters well and there’s little scope for them to flex their actng muscles.

Vantage Point sets a cracking pace at the outset and while there are some patches which are a little slow in the middle of the film - we spend too long following tourist Howard Lewis, for example, when he’s chasing another one of the characters who we’ve already seen - but there’s enough action to keep you interested. The suspense is generally maintained well but in the end this film is let down by a seemingly hastily arranged conclusion which stretches credulity to the limit.

Good idea, just not executed as well as it could be.

~ www.vantagepoint-movie.com

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