Movie review -- Vantage Point

Ok, so this is something I've not done before... but since Vantage Point is doing really well in theatres and I saw it last week, I figured I'd give it a try. :) Spoilers throughout.


"8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth"


The positive:

If you like fast-paced action movies, you'll love this. Think "24" on steriods. I liked that it managed to be suspensful without having much gory violence. Don't get me wrong- people were getting shot left and right... but it was so fast-paced that the camera didn't linger on wounds or blood.

It also made some pretty relevant political statements (which some might take as negative) especially from the 'vantage point' of the media, and their coverage of the event. The ending of the movie in particular was just chilling.


If you were watching closely enough, there were some other obvious political messages, though none too blatant, and none in poor taste. For instance, the terrorists' main objective seemed to be to get the President to pre-emptively attack a country that wasn't directly tied to the group...


Negative:

The first is obvious - some people will disagree with the implied political statements. The plot itself was very confusing. (Not to keep comparing a movie to TV shows) It reminded me of Heroes without the superpowers - everyone connected with everyone, plot twists every minute, a shady organization that's never fully explained. Only thing is, the movie ended before fully explaining half of its plot twists.

The tagline of "one truth" was definitely a stretch, because there never was a single unified explanation for the events of the movie. The main plot twists were tied up, but nothing further.

Another thing that was a bit weird for me was the lack of religious motivation in the terrorist group. I'm not saying that every bad guy in a movie has to be Muslim, but it was a bit perplexing for a group to come up with this intricate plot, be willing kill thousands of innocent civilians, blow themselves up, kidnap the President, kill their own, and infiltrate governments basically just for the hell of it. One short-sighted goal of influencing foreign policy was clear, yes, but there was no obvious ideology driving this mad determination. The fact that the terrorists were made up of Spaniards, Americans, English and very few visible middle-easterners made regional-based hate unlikely.

But, overall, it was a cool movie, as long as you don't think too much about it ;)