VANTAGE POINT

Political thriller

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Sigourney Weaver: GNN News producer Rex Brooks
Dennis Quaid: Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes
Mathew Fox: fellow agent Kent Taylor
William Hurt: William Ashton, President of the United States
Forest Whitaker: Howard Lewis, an American tourist
Eduardo Noriega: Spanish cop Enrique
Ayelet Zurer: his girlfriend Veronica
Saïd Taghmaoui: Suarez, one of Veronica's friends

REVIEW
At the risk of alienating the audience completely the same event is replayed four or five times. With each showing from a different vantage point there are additional clues to help solve the riddle of what is taking place. Not a bad way to start.

As with all movies of this genre some suspension of disbelief is required for it to work. But it shouldn’t be with the acting: both agent Barnes and Lewis give it a little too much. There are enough plot twists and turns, unexpected developments and the like to keep things moving along. The requisite car chases are well done and the action fast-paced.

All in all not a bad movie but not one likely to become a classic.

CLASSIFICATION
for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
 Agent Barnes sustains a cut and when first seen extends from his sideburns and runs down his cheek at a 45° angle. During the scenes that follow sometimes it does not touch his sideburns, other times it is at a more acute angle.
 Anyone on the 7th floor of the hotel would not be looking directly down into the large public square where these events take place, as it is quiet some distance away.
 Although the blue car strikes any number of vehicles in pursuit of the ambulance, it remains pristine with undamaged fenders looking like it just came out of the showroom.
 The driver too. Pristine that is.

P.S.
Agent Barnes shoots off at least a dozen rounds without reloading while running after the bad guys. I thought I had a nitpick since the last time I checked the maximum number of bullets in a magazine clip was just nine in this type of gun. However I now find out that now the make of semi-automatic pistol most commonly carried by law enforcement in the USA is a Glock. The Model 22 magazine holds 15 bullets and the Model 23 has a capacity of 13. You can’t win ‘em all.