21st Century Zapruder | Forest Whitaker catches an assassination on camera in Vantage Point.
VANTAGE POINT
Directed by Pete Travis. Starring Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver. Now playing.
1 1/2 Stars
Vantage Point is being billed as a Rashomon for our generation, but in reality it’s closer to being the autistic, ADHD-ridden second cousin of the TV show 24. More Groundhog Day then Fail Safe. Closer to an episode of Scooby-Doo than 3 Days of the Condor.
It starts with an interesting premise—the assassination of the American president told from about six different perspectives—but it falls flat after the first 10 minutes, depending more on flashbacks and gimmicky point-of-view shifts than an actual plot.
The action takes place in Spain during an international summit introducing the President William Hurt’s bold new counterterrorism strategy. The network news’ talking heads hint that Hurt has had a rough term in office, having weathered an unsuccessful previous assassination attempt and various terrorist attacks around the world. In short order, we’re introduced to the film’s cast of supporting players: the burnt-out Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid), out to prove he’s still got it; the American tourist (Forest Whitaker), handicam at the ready; the jaded news director (a brief appearance by Sigourney Weaver) calling the shots from the inside of a news van.
Everyone is ready for what is supposed to be a huge, world-changing announcement from the president... that is, until he takes three in the chest from a sniper’s rifle. Mass hysteria ensues as everyone in the crowd scramble for safety. The news cameras scramble to find a good angle on the action. The Secret Service scrambles to protect the injured (if not dead) commander-in-chief while trying to figure out where the bullets came from... and I scramble to care.
The bedlam reaches a fever pitch just as a massive explosion rips through the summit grounds, but before anyone can make any sense of what has happened (including the audience) the film literally hits reverse and rewinds itself to 23 minutes prior to the attack, picking up from a different character’s perspective. It’s kind of cool the first time... and much less so when it happens the third and fourth time. Every character is a witness to a different aspect of the assassination, but the audience is left in the dark right up until the end when all the POVs congeal into an unfollowable mishmash of car chases, double crosses and shootouts.
I can’t quite put my finger on why this movie left me feeling so offended. Maybe it was the way that whenever a discovery is about to be made, the excitement is almost immediately snuffed out by the annoying flashback gimmick, as if the writer were telling us, “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll tell you later.”
Or maybe it’s the way the movie capitalizes on and yet dismisses our almost constant fear that violent extremists could throw the world into even more chaos at any moment. I want to believe that there are people out there like Vantage Point’s heroes, ready to save the day. But if that task takes as much destruction and death in real life as it does in this movie... we’re in deep shit.
