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Vantage Point [Blu-ray] | ![Vantage Point [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51A2X6F7wXL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Pete Travis
Actors: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $38.96
Buy New: $17.49
You Save: $21.47 (55%)
New (31) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $15.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 2069
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), Portuguese (Original Language), Cantonese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 90
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
MPN: 21619
UPC: 043396216198
EAN: 0043396216198
ASIN: B0018CWW3C
Theatrical Release Date: February 22, 2008
Release Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: NEW & FACTORY SEALED Blu-Ray DVD. International shipping available. Ships First Class and Expedited.
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Product Description
Columbia Pictures Vantage Point (Blu-ray) During an historic counter-terrorism summit in Spain, the President of the United States is struck down by an assassin's bullet. Eight strangers have a perfect view of the kill, but what did they really see? As the minutes leading up to the fatal shot are replayed through the eyes of each eyewitness, the reality of the assassination takes shape. But just when you think you know the answer, the shattering final truth is revealed. VANTAGE POINT is a mindbending politicalaction-thriller starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Academy Award Winner Forest Whitaker (Best Actor 2006, The Last King of Scotland), with Sigourney Weaver and Academy Award winner William Hurt (Best Actor 1985, Kiss of the Spider Woman).
Amazon.com
Vantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set a-boil within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over with in a quarter-hour or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" would be more accurate; the opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and dueling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody's in Salamanca (actually, Mexico City) for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).
For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in close-up--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa's Rashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Vantage Point (click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 96 more reviews...
 Brilliant September 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Absolutely brilliant story telling. We get to see several perspective on the same event and how it affects different persons involved. The camera shots were a masterpiece...makes you feel as if you were there in the midst of the chaos. As for the car chase scene...it was the icing on the cake for that thriller suspense.
 From My Vantage Point It is one of the Worst August 31, 2008
This movie sports an all-star cast, but that is about all it has going for it. Firstly, it is too short for all the action in it yet it still tries to develop characters and that just falls flat. We get about 30 seconds of a character's background. Secondly, the events are completely unreasonable. The details of the terrorist attack are just non-sensical considering the amount of the security that occurs in any function involving the President. A few terrorists kill a troop of secret service men as if those guarding the President were henchman working for Dr. Evil in an Austin Power's movie. Thirdly, no reason is ever given for why a group of hodge-podge Moroccans would kill dozens of innocent people and the President of the USA. The characters in on the plot could or would never pull it off either.
The worst aspect of the movie is the attempt to create suspense by continually rewinding the events and showing the same time period from about 6-7 different characters' "vantage points." The result is that it completely disrupts any flow the movie would have and prevents viewers from connecting with any of the characters. All-in-all it leads to only about 15 mins. worth of actual time passing in the movie's events.
The ending also is illogical, not to mention the impossibility of a secret service agent in a high speed chase through unfamilar narrow streets filled with cars and pedstrians, on the sidewalk, down stairs, shifting, sliding, turning, etc and of course making cell phone calls, then getting completely smashed by a big truck and a wall, and surprise..getting out and chasing down the bad guys.
 My perspective August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this movie, and I enjoyed the gimmick of the film. One of my favorite books is Orson Scott Cards "Ender's Shadow", which is exactly the same story as his book "Enders Game" except it is told by a different character. While "Vantage Point" doesn't rise anywhere near to the books I just mentioned, I like that looking from different viewpoints and vantage points can make a story quite different. In this film, it was interesting trying to figure out who were the bad guys before you see for yourself, and it had the effect of going to a criminal trial, and hearing testimony from different individuals to get at the truth. If that sounds like fun to you, then you will probably like this as well.
On the downside, the story that turned out to be the actual events was quite convoluted, and pretty implausible. Some little things about the main characters motivation were not fleshed out enough to engage an emotional response from the audience.
So here's the deal,
I enjoyed vantage point as an UNBOX rental, but probably won't be buying the DVD.
3 1/2 *
Exciting thriller August 30, 2008
This is one of those movies that makes you sit in your seat and wonder whats going to happen next. I couldn't wait to the ending to figure out how it happened and who did it. Dennis Quad gives a great performance. The flashbacks would sometimes got repetitive in the beginning but at the end it was well worth it. Great story very fun!
 stop remaking the classics! August 28, 2008
A mediocre drama that does yet another spin of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomonidea. Vantage Point not only fails miserably, but it becomes melodramatic, formulaic, with a traditional Hollywood happy ending. What a strong political statement this movie could've made; what a bore it was instead!
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