Vantage Point

Last night, I saw Vantage Point, so I'll give you a quick run-down on whether or not you should see it. As a preface, it's worth seeing, but listen up.

There's this opening that feels like something out of a flick produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. You know how it is, all grayscale and mysterious and you just want to know more! You are then launched on a thrill-a-minute thrilling thrillride full of intrigue, twists and thrills!

Vantage Point is pretty entertaining, which should have been, more or less, what you expecting. The characters are at least fun to watch, like Superman secret service agent Dennis Quaid, cuddly Forrest Whittaker or compassion-rific President William hurt, just two parts of a reasonable well put-together cast. You don't get the sense these are real people, but they are at least they aren't obnoxious. Well, news media boss Sigourney Weaver is made of censor and fail, but other than that you don't hate yourself for caring about these people. The only character who gets any development is Quaid, who leaps from a shaky man in a suit to American badass superhero.

The whole film, while billed to be told from 8 perspectives, only serves to augment this one character's perception. A solid narrative tool, to be sure, but not as artistic or interesting as it could have been. You follow Quaid as he tries to foil the ill-defined geopolitical boogeymen in this one.

See, the crux of the film's tribulations is a plot to kill (?) the President. Supposedly. I'm not going to spoil the plot for you. You'll be able to spoil the plot for you about an hour or so into it. That's Vantage Point's problem: you know what's coming, which is not the best case scenario for a thrilling (remember the thrilling part?) tale of intrigue. The relatively by-the-numbers plot, bound together by, what, seven rewind transitions serves only to comment on how awesome America is, even in the face of adversity. Don't question who these people are or what they want; America Rules!

Even so, the obligatory car chase scene is adequately outrageous, the camera is, occasionally interestingly used, and it's overall an entertaining movie.

Worth seeing, but wait for the DVD. Or Blu-ray. Whatever you kids are watching these days.