Column:

‘Vantage Point’ poorly filmed

By Tanner Boyd

Published Feb. 26, 2008

“Vantage Point” tries to establish itself as an action thriller enhanced by realistic elements. Unfortunately, terrible acting and an annoying narrative subdues “Vantage Point” to nothing more than a mundane popcorn flick.

“Vantage Point” covers the events of an assassination attempt on the U.S. president during a summit meeting in Spain. Instead of just being a cut and dry plot, however, “Vantage Point” strives to tell the story through the accounts of several different characters.

This form of storytelling actually hinders the plot more than enhances it. When starting each character’s story, the audience is forced to review all of the previous events over again. While it’s necessary for the purpose of telling the story, director Pete Travis uses the same shots as before, which frankly just annoys the audience. The result is a visual story less like “Memento” and more like “Groundhog Day.” The broken record cinematography also makes “Vantage Point” feel dragged out and unnecessarily long, even though the film is relatively short by today’s standards (it clocks in at an hour and a half).

But even poor storytelling aside, one of the film’s biggest flaws is the abysmal acting. One would expect a lot more from the cast list. Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker and Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver deliver some of the worst performances of the cast. You don’t sympathize with the good guys, you don’t care for or against the bad guys and no one really seems to care about the president (William Hurt).

And if the characters aren’t interesting, they’re certainly stereotypical. The terrorists are so stereotypical that you’re just waiting for someone to utter “stupid Americans.”

That’s not to say that “Vantage Point” isn’t entertaining, but that’s not the route Travis seemed to be shooting for.

While the plot of the movie might suggest some kind of social or political commentary on current events, Travis dumps any of these ideas in favor of high-speed car chases and Rambo-esque warriors. Any realism that Travis wants the audience to experience is thrown out the window because of some of the ridiculous elements provided by the action.

“Vantage Point” isn’t a bad movie, just misleading and rushed. Instead of a thought-provoking thriller, the film offers a watered down version of “The Bourne” trilogy.

The movie tries to take itself seriously, but the approaches that Travis uses disrupt the realism in favor of a typical Hollywood shoot ‘em up.