The Constant Rewinding: A Review of "Vantage Point"

Don't you hate it when the movie trailers give away the key points to a plot? I know I do. One of the most blatant violators of this particular faux pas is in theaters right now and it's entitled "Vanage" Point." I am not going to explain what the major plot point is that is going to give away a major part of the plot, but you need only go on YouTube or something like that and watch the trailer yourself. Or, perhaps you can just turn on the television and see it, since it's been running pretty frequently for a while now.

The movie itself is an interesting concept. The President of the United States is in a foreign country and about to make a huge speech at an Anti-Terrorist Summit. Apparently he has huge plans that will make great in-roads in the war on terror. However, during his speech, the President is shot. Shortly thereafter, far from the spot where the shooting has happened, there is the sound of an explosion as a suicide bombers blows himself up. Then, suddenly, within the plaza where the shooting happened another bomb goes off. What's happened? Who is responsible? Who saw what? We follow eight different people and get to see their particlar vantage point. Each person's view adds a little bit more of the plot and, the conceit is, that by the end of the movie you will have a complete picture of what happened and why.

As soon as you start watching the movie, if you are like me, you will soon feel like it is a movie playing in the same arena at the TV show "24." It may not be its exact twin, but they are kissing cousins. Cricket may not exactly be the same thing as baseball, but you can see the family resemblance and how they may have, at one time, been related. The thing is, I feel that "24" does it much better.

Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, William Hurt and others are all interwoven in a plot that rapidly becomes so convoluted, you know that it is pushing the boundaries of reality, and then gleefully pushes right past them. No terrorist in the world could ever be so advanced to come up with a plot this convoluted and complicated and so dependent on chance. At the same time, the head terrorist seems to be controlling and managing and executing the entire assassination and plot from his cell phone. After this movie, and before too long, we will all be unable to bring our cell phones anywhere for fear that we will be able to do all sorts of terror and mischief with them.

Each time we see the assassination from the point of one of the main characters. Each time, the plot reaches a certain point and then the action freezes. Each time we then see all of the scenes we just watched, but in reverse. Each time we then end up back at 12:00 pm and hear church bells. We see the shooting and the explosions was feels like 18 billion times. Sure, I knew going in that this was what the plot was going to be, but couldn't we have limited the number of rewinds? Why do we have to watch those scenes in reverse?

Then there's the writing. When the action is in full swing, at least you get some very standard, exciting car chases and shooting. For people who are fans of action, these will more than make up for the ham-handed and preachy dialogue. There is a scene between the President and his advisors that all but reaches out of the screen, grabs you by the throat and screams, "Listen to this idealism! Let me preach to you about how the United States SHOULD be!"

It all rings very false. At some point, thankfully, the rewinding stops and the chases start. There is a rather impressive, if not entirely original, car chase. Then there are the inevitable showdowns between the good guys and the bad guys. There are the supposedly surprising reveals about who is good and who isn't. Of course, then there is the one big surprise that you will see revealed in the trailer.

It's a movie that has an interesting premise, but doesn't quite execute it perfectly. The ending requires so many ridiculous coincidences and relies so much on people being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time is may remind you of the Will Smith helicopter-landing scene from "Independence Day."

It's the kind of movie that will not leave you bored, but it may leave you looking at your watch and wondering if there might be a better movie playing somewhere down the hall.