“Vantage Point” is the new political thriller from Columbia Pictures, directed by Pete Travis, and it does hold your attention on more than one level.
Leaders of several countries gather in Salamanca, Spain, for a conference on “terrorism.” The city’s central square holds up to 20,000 people and it is crowded as the American president (William Hurt) stands up to speak. Suddenly he is gunned down and officials run for cover. Secret Service agents (including Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox) remove the president and search for suspects. A Spanish police officer hurtles toward the mayor of Salamanca, whose safety is his responsibility. A mystery woman tosses a satchel under the grandstand and disappears into the mass of citizens fleeing in panic. Sequestered in a nearby hotel suite, a presidential advisor promotes his own agenda. And an American tourist (Forest Whitaker) accidentally videotapes much more than he realizes.
Of course, the first vantage point belongs to a network news director (Sigourney Weaver) as she orchestrates multiple cameras to reflect her own sense of political theater. But then an assassination attempt, bomb explosions and a dead journalist have an impact on her agenda.
With each rewind, the perspective changes and the mystery deepens. The viewer is reminded of “Roshomon,” Akira Kurosawa’s 1951 classic with four distinct versions of a crime, and “The Seige,” Edward Zwick’s 1998 film focusing on a secret U.S. abduction of a suspected insurgent leader and the violent consequences which follow.
“Vantage Point” is a fast-paced thriller, with a chase scene more exciting than Steve McQueen’s in “Bullitt” or Robert DeNiro’s in “Ronin.”
The complexity of motives on all sides is portrayed absorbingly. Who is the enemy? What do we know? What do we really know? Who’s zooming whom?
Get your two boxes of popcorn early; you won’t want to leave your seat during “Vantage Point.”
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