Film: Vantage Point

[tambourine-man]

This has has some very positive early reviews. A solid-looking cast in a film about about subjective viewpoints of a Presidential assassination. However, it's been getting a panning on the IMDB boards.

Anyone seen it?

Official site: http://www.vantagepoint-movie.com/index.php

 

[L2R]

i was planning on making this thread since i saw the trailer in the theatre last week. looks very interesting. according the imdb, it's very rashomon like.

there's something in the trailer that seems to indicate to me that it has shown me too much of the story. i might suggest going in to see it without seeing the trailer first.

this could be excellent, or horrible and cheesy.... time will tell.

i like the cast.
dennis quaid
sigourney weaver
forest whitaker
william hurt

 

[Daisybabe]

I saw this the Wednesday before it came out with an advance screening pass. It has a really cool concept and pulls it off really well for most of the film.

Spoiler cut to save the sensitive souls:

NSFW:

THe movie starts out in a CNN-type mobile production studio. The president is in Spain at a summit to give a talk promoting peace. As soon as he gets up to the mike, BANG, he's shot. The movie stops, rewinds, and then proceeds to show you the same 20 minutes over again, this time from the POV of a Secret Service agent. BANG, and then rewind, start over again from the POV of a tourist. BANG, and repeat. At this point, it gets a bit repetitive, because you see the same scene ultimately from six "vantage points." Each time you learn a bit more, until finally at the end the scene plays out and you see the aftermath.

It was pretty darn good, gripping thriller, even with the repetition, until they get to the part about the tourist and his subplot with a little girl. Everything goes downhill from there. It's PG-13, so that means no one can die (at least onscreen) so there are some horrific crashes that characters shrug off as nothing. It gets a little cheesy. Overall, worth seeing, but at a matinee price or on dvd. Not a full-fare nighttime ticket price.

Oh, and I haven't seen Rashamon, or whatever its called.

 

[faris]

saw this movie over the weekend. interesting concept, but a bit repetitive after about 45-60mins into it. read the spoiler above and you will see why, or go to the movie and you will see why.

i would recommend it regardless, as i love government conspiracy-type movies. it definitely had you going till almost the very end about "who done it".

no poll yet, but i'd give it a "4". there were no cheeseball lines in it, didn't seem to be reaching for a story, convincing cast.

edited because i'm a jackass. didn't see the poll....

 

[pennywise]

I thought this looked good, but then decided not to see it when I saw that it got pretty much panned by the critics. I'm curious to see more ratings from people here though. Maybe I'll change my mind. But I'll probably just wait for it to be released on DVD or Cable .

 

[cletus]

Yeah, not bad at all I thought. I'm trying to think of something to say that's not already been said. The first few times you see the different angles was interesting, but give it time, because it does take off in a different direction so to speak. The biggest fear was that all the different angles would be whittled down to a 3 minute tie up. I'm not spoiling it by saying it's by far longer than 3 minutes.

Not the best film ever made, but definitely not shite. Take a woman to see it, not the guys.

 

[L2R]

^i disagree. this was LAME. it's 24 kinds of lame.

With a Rashomon narrative style,

this film was NOTHING like rashomon. it uses cheap tricks and weak subplots to run a convoluted and pathetic plot.

1.5/5 just for the sense of speed during the car chase and crowd shots.

 

[captainballs]

This movie feels like a TV movie, and that goes for everything from the acting to the cinematography to the script. Somebody let these guys borrow the TV crew and said, "okay, now this happens... and now, this happens" on the spot. True story.