Vantage Point

The concept of point of view is rather complex when you think about it. Aside from the fact that everybody has one, it makes things difficult in the event that something catastrophic happens. So many sides to a story can cloud the silver lining and in the latest thriller from Sony Pictures, Vantage Point sets out to prove just that.

First off, if you don’t like movies that replay events over and over then this isn’t the movie for you. 8 points of view was not just a tag line and, quite frankly, all the rewinding in this film was almost annoying to a point. Yet and still, I understood why it was essential to the story but I’m still scratching my head, trying to figure out this convoluted plot.

Basically, all these points of view are trying to unlock the mystery behind an attempt to assassinate the president. While seemingly successful, each point of view explores a different side to the story and by the time things are revealed as they actually happened, the hope is that it will all make sense. Does it? Well, kind of but you have to suspend reality for it to. I mean, I’m all for “over the top action” movies (i.e. Live Free or Die Hard, The Bourne Series) but nowadays, it all seems too formulaic to me. Car chases are an absolute must for films like these but how they avoid injuring hundreds of people, as they would in real life, is beyond me.

Overall, Vantage Point is solid in it’s attempt to be a psychological thriller but it’s more of a popcorn movie. It’s nothing to take serious but it’s intricate in that, terrorrism is a chain of command. It takes so many things to go right and so many people strategically to pull something off, but depending on which side you’re on…the vantage point won’t be the same.

Rating: 3 inkblots out of 5