In "Vantage Point", the United States President is in Spain to give a speech on the Global Summit on Terror when an assassination attempt is made on his life. Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) is a secret service agent on his first assignment since taking a bullet for the president. Now, in the aftermath of an assassination attempt and a bomb explosion, Barnes must try and find answers to who was responsible for these actions.
Barnes first action after securing the area and sending his partner Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) to check out where the shot came from, is to seek out a man he remembers who had a video camera at the Summit. When he sees something on the tape that shocks him, the story changes and is told through a new "vantage point". Together, these vantage points, including Barnes' and the cameraman Howard Lewis' (Forest Whitaker) perspectives (just to name a few), combine to tell the story of what really happened in those few minutes.
The concept of "Vantage Point" is unique, and the way the stories tie together is absolutely stunning. Small things, like seemingly insignificant interactions between characters, become important as the viewers see each subsequent perspective. Each vantage point gives you enough information to tie together a piece or two of the puzzle, but also leaves you with another question to be answered. In addition, each character is not merely a vision to what happened. Instead, we are given insights to these characters personalities, making us feel connected or disconnected to each. For example, you learn about Howard Lewis' family life back home. Although not directly important to the storyline, it helps create a better picture of Lewis' character, and easily connects the viewers to Lewis.
As the puzzle starts to come together, and as the characters stories begin to intertwine, this is where the problems begin in "Vantage Point". The problems don't arise from the intertwining of story lines, that is done almost perfectly, and thus, the problems are very minor in comparison to the rest of the story. The first problem is in the portrayal of Barnes later in the movie. Barnes takes the role of the action hero, and is put into many tough situations. Yet, he walks away from each with barely a scratch in situations that might have harmed other characters in a significant way.
The other problem I saw with the movie is in the ending. Without giving too much away, a small action sets forth a chain reaction that leads to the movie ending the way it did. I understand the message it seems they were trying to get across by ending it the way they did (my interpretation, although I could be wrong), that even small events can have a significant impact on the world. However, the ending seemed like the easy way out. Almost a "deus ex machina". Whether it was to avoid the traditional action movie ending, or for another reason all together, the movie led you down one path towards the probable ending, and when it got to the ending, completely took a different course. Normally, I'd be OK with plot twists, but in this case it doesn't twist the plot as much as just twist the ending.
But as I said, these are minor problems. The first two thirds of the movie are nearly flawless, and completely unique. The final third still plays out well enough, just not as perfectly as the first two thirds. "Vantage Point" keeps you guessing from start to finish, and each characters uniqueness allows you to want to see the same scene multiple times. The character interactions and little tidbits about characters' backgrounds actually leave the viewer wanting to learn more or see the vantage points of other characters.
Grade: B
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