Vantage Point

I have been looking forward to "Vantage Point" for a couple of months now. I don't get to see a lot of movies because of my school schedule, but I happened to catch a trailer a couple of months ago and I thought "wow, big cast, great concept, looks great!" Yesterday Matt and I actually both had the afternoon off (a rare occurrence) so we went to go see the movie. Matt had other movies he wanted to see, but I was determined to see Vantage Point!

I already knew the concept of the movie. The assassination of the U.S. President was seen by many different people, and the movie was to be told through 8 different points of view to tell the whole story. The trailers actually revealed that it wasn't even the president that got shot, but in fact it was a double, so that isn't a spoiler.

We had Sigourney Weaver (where on earth has she been?), Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox (Jack from Lost), Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, and some other smaller names. Like I said, big cast, and the acting was really good. I would have really enjoyed it if the way the story was told didn't totally stink!!!!!

Ok, so I am officially giving this movie a C- or maybe even a D. I am so disappointed. :( In order to tell the stories of the individual points of view they would actually rewind through the 23 minutes of what you just saw and start over from about 1:00pm. It was kind of cheesy, and really annoying especially after like the 4th time (I stopped counting). Then, you couldn't piece together anything because as a person's point of view unfolded they would show you what they saw, and then sometimes only their reactions to what they saw...hmmm, not so helpful.

So the first hour of the movie (the movie is only 90 minutes long) was rewinding and seeing the same exact scene over and over. Then, the last 30 minutes we moved past the point of view thing and just into a really crazy action chase scene. I was reminded of the 2003 version of The Italian Job. Insane driving of small cars through the narrow and crowded streets of Spain. Impossible escapes and my oh my how those cars were able to crash into so many things with just a few scratches, and never getting slowed down.

There are a few personal stories to follow in the movie, some were interesting, some where not. Also, there are a few details that are never quite explained in the extremely fast wrap up at the end. Don't blink, you might miss it!

In the end, very disappointed that I waited so long to see this movie, and that we paid money to see it. If you can, just wait and put it on the bottom of your Netflix list so you forget that it is even there until it comes.