This movie is a gimmick movie showing us the attempted assassination of the president from 5 or 6 different vantage points. Although the continued 23 minutes of this movie keep playing from a different character’s perspective, this film works to show the viewer the whole story while also giving the viewer many loose ends that are ready to be tied up by movie’s end, even a bit of a who-dun-it, which is always fun as well.

The movie is acted well by Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whitaker who both get character treatment by the writers not only to give us compelling present day characters, but also backgrounds that help us care about each of them. Matthew Fox, on the other hand, gets no back story and plays his character flat, so much so that he becomes predictable. The others actors do a fine job in their respective roles, but are ultimately a bit one-dimensional.

This movie does not tell you why the president has an assassination attempt or why each character does what they do, but this movie doesn’t want to make that the focus so that story is not told. This movie merely wants to use a basic story without the whys, and show how so many people could view it in so many ways. This movie is much like Groundhog Day where you see a scene played over and over; however, the scenes are different each time with similarities since it is from a different point of view. The audience though can feel like a lot of play and rewind are occurring based on the way the director chose to show each vantage point.

The filming style was great along with an action-packed ending. Setting aside the standard car chase absurdities, this scene was great to tie all stories together to show the viewer who was involved and how. The movie also places terrorism as a backdrop to the subject matter making the film feel current as the movie is watched. The film may in fact be asking, “What is your vantage point?” We see things how we want to see them or how they are portrayed to us. Things are not always as they seem.  Am I writing a movie review or a commentary on the world and terrorism? Did you just question that without answering yes or no right away? If so, the review and the movie have made their point. Vantage Point is worth a look and possibly even a second one so that you know what viewpoint you are watching from.

Similar recommended titles: In the Line of Fire and Phone Booth