Title: Vantage Point Movie Review
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Saïd Taghmaoui…
Director: Pete Travis
Release: (2008)
 
When the president is shot in front of a crowd of hundreds and on live TV, it is up to a small group of key witnesses to piece together their unique perspectives on the events leading up to the shooting in order to uncover the assassin and prevent, perhaps, an even more deadly plot about to unfold. Vantage Point offers the audience a look at each of these witnesses’ own accounts to try to piece together for themselves who might really be behind the chaotic scene, with each version revealing new clues and insights about what happened in the moments right before and after the attack.
As a film, does it work? Well, I guess that depends on your perspective. To find out, I sat down with a group of key witnesses to the shooting of this film to try to piece together just exactly what they thought happened.
Pete Travis (Director): Well, it’s a common misconception that Vantage Point was meant to be some sort of homage to Kurosawa’s Rashomon. Honestly, I hadn’t even seen it before, so I wouldn’t know anything about whether the two films are similar or not. All I wanted to do was try to create a true narrative of the geopolitical environment that we live in today, and present that through the prism of a diversity of socio-ethnic experiences in order to really demonstrate the need for cooperation and interrelatedness across nationalities if we’re going to survive this time of escalating spiritual disillusionment at the hands of a growing military-industrial complex stronghold in government.
Unfortunately, then I realized I only had nineteen minutes worth of plot in my script, so I decided to just shoot everything from, like, ten different angles at once and use all of it instead of editing anything together. That stretched things out to about an hour, so then I went back and put some of the scenes in slow-motion to get to about 1:15. Add in a few more car chases and explosions to make the studio happy and tell Forest Whitaker to “really feel his way through” some scene a little more, voilà – 90 minutes of movie out of 20 pages of script.
In the end, I think people are going to really enjoy seeing this story from all the different angles, and will hopefully walk away with a lesson about the multiplicity of people in the world and the need for understanding and patience across cultures. Yeah – that was good, make sure you put that in there. And make sure you have the part about me never seeing Rashomon before, too. And when you do, maybe add something like ‘It seems great directors, like great minds, think alike.’ Right? Read that whole thing back to me, and that first part too.
Dennis Quaid (Thomas Barnes): Alright kid, you got two minutes before I gotta be on a conference call with three studios about ten movies I made last year. DVDs are coming out next month, gotta get a push on ‘em! Remind me what we’re talking about here again? Vantage Point, right, gotcha. Good movie, you see it? Yeah, you like it? Good, good. So I guess you’re not one of those piece of crap, snob critics who thinks anything made after 1941 is cheaper than Guatemalan donkey porn, right? HA! I knew it. You’re alright, kid. So, - we through here or what? Great, listen, I gotta run. Great job, kid, love your show, listen all the time.
Forest Whitaker (Howard Lewis): Yes. … Vantage – Point. (long, deep, focusing breath) What does it mean to me. As a performer, it is essential for me to absorb the characters I am entrusted with, to consume them into my soul until I can no longer tell who I am without them or they – me. With Harold Lewis, I wanted to find those places in his heart that were most raw to the touch and channel them into my own. What does falling in love feel like to Harold Lewis? Or riding a bicycle past his grandfather’s church in the rain? Letting go of a dream? Taking hold of a chance? As actors – we are charged to present these people to the world as not just charact-ers, but as charact-ares. To show who they are, what they are, and to make you believe that they are. It is a true responsibility.
For myself, the journey begins with love. Truly loving people, as the rhythm loves the still, is a discipline that many are afraid to confront. But as actors, we must learn to accept that fear and incorporate it into a heart of conviction – conviction for that which is beautiful in all of our lives. As actors, we must tune our instrument to play perfectly in the pitch of life all the time. It is only in this way that we, who are given …
(Rosie backs quietly out of the room)
That Guy from “Lost” (Kent Taylor): My name is MATTHEW FOX! I was in Party of Five, too you know? No one ever mentions that anymore! We Are Marshall? Speed Racer? You never saw these? I’ve hosted Saturday Night Live, for crissakes! DAMMIT, what do I have to do to get you people to remember my name? I am so sick of you freaking Lost junkies. This interview’s over. OVER!
Saïd Taghmaoui (Suarez): Me? You want to talk to me? Sure. No, I’d love to, it’s just no one ever interviews me over here. In France, sure, I’m like Brad Pitt or something. But here, I can hop down La Brea naked on a pogo stick and not get sniff on your TMZ.
Ah, but it’s not so bad. Good money here, I’ll tell you that. Best part is, I don’t even have to do anything in the roles here. They just call me whenever they need someone “foreign” looking, you know - not “too black”, not “too white”. It’s the easiest job ever, man - no one here knows anything! All they think is whites are from Europe, blacks are from Africa, and everyone else is from Oogey-Boogey Crazy Town. You know, in my last few jobs in America I’ve played a Moroccan, an Afghani, a Spaniard, and an Iraqi? I didn’t even change my voice for any of them. I’m from freaking France, man! That’s not even the best one. One time here, they had me playing a “Qumari”. There’s not even any such thing as a “Qumari”! There’s not even any such place as “Qumar”! But they just figured it sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, I sounded vaguely Middle Eastern … eh, no one will know the difference. And they didn’t. I love this freaking country, man!
Anyway, yeah, go see Vantage Point. I’ll give you one guess if you think they have me as a good guy or a bad guy. Oooooooh, look out for me, man … what am I? Terrorist? Illegal alien? Greedy oil prince? Maybe everything, man. Maybe I take your job just to blow up your office building. Wooooohooooohoooooohooooo…
William Hurt (President Ashton): (Sigh) Ahh, yes, alright, let’s get this over with then. So you want to know about Vantage Point I guess? Well, pfffffff, I play the president, President Ashton. Aaaaaand, my character comes to Spain to give a speech at an international summit … and when he gets there, though, there ends up being a breach … in security that puts the president in danger and … I’m not exactly sure what else I can say without giving away too much to your readers. It was a great experience, though, I really do think they’ll enjoy watching it.
Is that enough, then? God, I am so tired of all this. What happened to my life? Look at me? I’m William effing Hurt, for God’s sake. I was supposed to be a legend by now, not some visibly exhausted character actor trying to cover a mortgage still. And doing interviews with internet critics, too, no less. Someone please just kill me now. What happened to me? I used to be William Hurt, you know. William Hurt …
Sigourney Weaver (Rex Brooks): What’s it called? Vantage Point? No, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t in that. Really? You sure? Hmm, maybe they used some kind of archival footage and CGI tricks or something. I better call my agent, see if he knows anything about this. Excuse me.
Quentin Tarantino: Hacks.
Akira Kurosawa: Plagiarists.
Grading
Story: B
Acting: B+
Visuals: B
Originality/Innovation: C
Enjoyability: A-
Overall: B+
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