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July 6th, 2008
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The sum of its parts

A well-cast thriller falls to pieces
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April 16th, 2008 issue

By Rachel Shimp

COURTESY PHOTO
Oh, say can you see? Whitaker, Quaid and Fox experience an American tragedy.
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Vantage Point


Directed by Pete Travis
With Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Edgar Ramirez, Ayelet Zurer, Eduardo Noriega and Sigourney Weaver

For the Post
In 2006, two American conceptual artists designed Gold Pills, 24-karat gold leaf–filled capsules that “will turn your innermost parts into chambers of wealth. Digest and consume.” The $425 Gold Pills are one of a series of affordable (relatively, in the art world) works that address “the creation of and demand for the unnecessary” — a category that also includes the would-be art film Vantage Point.
Popcorn action movies don’t often squander such an interesting premise — an assassination attempt shown from eight different viewpoints — and such a talented cast on so much convoluted hooey. The idea undoubtedly sparkled on paper. But, unlike the frivolous yet determined follow-through of Gold Pills, the end result is unremarkable and routine.
It’s tempting to review this star-studded mess of a political thriller from various angles. But, unlike the eight perspectives from which the action unfolds, it seems likely that viewers will see Vantage Point only one way. A film buff looking for intrigue will recognize the narrative structure of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, while a thrill-seeking teenager will be rewarded with some live action lifted from Grand Theft Auto. But everyone who forfeits precious beer money for this movie will ultimately see an ensemble piece that’s much less than it might have been.
First, the promising premise: The president of the United States (William Hurt) enters a square filled with more than 40,000 people. He joins other international leaders at the podium. He’s shot twice. Chaos breaks out.
Of course, there’s much more to it than that. When action unfolds in real time, the results can be thrilling (see the popular American TV series 24) or a just-bearable curiosity (Mike Figgis’ 2000 experimental film Timecode).
Here, the story is first told from inside a newsroom directed by Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver). The chaotic part arrives at 23 minutes, at which point the film suddenly and jarringly rewinds itself to a black screen that shows it’s almost noon, again. This time we see a little more through the eyes of Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid, looking like a bulldog with a perpetually furrowed brow), including some of the aftermath that the TV cameras didn’t capture. Pause, and repeat six more times.
There are perspectives from the president himself, Barnes’ fellow agent Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), a tourist and three of the people perpetuating the attack. Surprising connections and revelations are made but, due to the format, don’t really develop. The characters aren’t given adequate time to inspire sympathy (much less an understanding) of their motivations. But why sympathize with villains? Barry Levy’s script seems to disregard equally any bias toward them or the U.S. government. It admirably lays out the action with little indication of an agenda, perhaps to the detriment of the larger story, creating a detachment when it should create discussion.
Vantage Point’s redeeming virtue is that each time the story is retold, we learn more of the who, what, where and how of the terrorist actions, if only vaguely the why. In this way, the same movie isn’t actually shown eight times. It just feels like it.
As for that squandered cast: Most glaringly there’s Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar for his ferociously sinister Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, here playing camcorder-wielding tourist Howard Lewis. He’s thrown a handful of dialogue and pages upon pages of mad running and gesticulation. His face displays 20 variations of shock and terror, in contrast to Quaid’s aforementioned scowl. Whitaker doesn’t need the money — what gives? Nor, for that matter, do Quaid, Fox, Hurt and the actors cast as terrorists (Eduardo Noriega, Said Taghmaoui, Edgar Ramirez and Ayelet Zurer), all of whom have enjoyed global success.
The movie may be worth seeing to become familiar with the latter four. They give their paper-thin characters an intensity in accordance with Taghmaoui’s former career as a champion boxer, and Zurer’s status as one of Israel’s greatest actresses, to offer two examples.
There’s also Weaver’s tense, capable newswoman Brooks. (Ripley, how did you end up here?) “Keep it simple,” she tells an ad-libbing young reporter. “You mean dumb it down?” the reporter sasses back. Not surprisingly, that makes movies like Vantage Point so much easier to digest.
Rachel Shimp can be reached at rshimp@praguepost.com


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