Rating of
2.5/4
"Vantage Point" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/02/12
A terrorist plot to assassinate the president of the US of A is witnessed from differing viewpoints in the crowd, unravelling an underlying conspiracy. The central conceit of Vantage Point of portraying the same events from different viewpoints is now a very familiar one (Kurosawa did it over half a century ago) and the first half of the film did feel like being trapped in Groundhog Day, but once it settles down it turns into a fairly servicable action thriller. The above par cast certainly help, although the bad guys may as well have been wearing black stetsons making the "twist" deeply unsurprising when it happens but some extremely well done set pieces, particularly a thrilling car chase very much in the spirit of the Bourne films, make it pretty entertaining. It is unfortunately marred by the inevitable Hollywood gloss including a contrived, schmaltzy ending and the involvement of the little girl just reminded me of the dog in Independence Day. It's basically like a season of 24 without the soap and padding, condensed into a two hour story and if that sounds like your kind of thing, give it a go.
