"Vantage Point" - Movie Review

Dave and I wanted to see a movie on Saturday night, and as usual, we had difficulty choosing. It's not because there are so many movies we're eager to see, but rather a "guy taste" vs. a "girl taste" thing. I wanted something that was feel-good or funny and he wanted an intellectual thriller.

He suggested Vantage Point, but immediately said I would hate it. Not knowing anything about it, I quickly Googled it and learned that it was a political drama/action movie. Toss politics into a movie and I can get behind it quickly.

Vantage Point had all the ingredients for a good movie: all-star cast (Matthew Fox, Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, and Sigourney Weaver), politics, and possibly intriguing subplots.

Unfortunately, this movie can be summed up in less than one sentence: 1 scene repeated 5 times and a car chase. It felt very Groundhog Day-ish, without the life lessons and without the enjoyment.

This was one of those movies I figured out within the first 5 minutes and did not spend the next 85 minutes enjoying the journey of how I reached my conclusion. It was unfortunate because there were some true possibilities for intriguing subplots. None of them was explored, however.

The best part of the movie came about 2 minutes into it (the first time) when the President of the US (played by William Hurt) is entering the Spanish plaza and the streets are lined with protesters. Anti-American signs were everywhere and I turned to Dave and said "did you just see the anti-W sign that just flashed?" and he saw it too.

My recommendation is to skip this movie, although Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox were some yummy eye candy.

UPDATE 3/25/2008: Tim and Tony saw Vantage Point on Easter and enjoyed it. Tim even reviewed it in a post called "Vantage Point Counter Point." So hop on over to Balancing Boyfriends and read it.