A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

As this thriller opens an anti-terrorism summit is about to start in Salamanca, Spain; before it does the US president is due to address a crowd assembled in a square as the media broadcasts the events to the world. As we see what the media sees the president stands up to speak then a shot rings out. Shortly afterwards there is the sound of a muffled explosion but before we learn any more about that a huge explosion rocks the square. We then see the events from various other points of view; a secret service agent who has just returned to work after being injured saving the president during a previous attack; a Spanish policeman and an American tourist who filmed the events as well as certain people who can't be mentioned to avoid spoiling the various twists. As we see the various points of view we learn new details about what really happened and gradually build up a picture of who was behind the events.This is a solid thriller that opens an in explosive style that quickly grips the viewer. The way we learn what happened by seeing the events from different points of view is interesting. In most films major events never take place at the same time but here, just as in real life they do, and the repeated viewings of the events allow us to see this. One might expect the repeat viewings to get repetitive but each perspective is significantly different to the others and we are constantly learning new details. The cast does an impressive job; most notably Dennis Quaid as the Secret Service agent at the centre of events and Forest Whitaker as the tourist who gets caught up in events. There is plenty of action, this is impressive and includes explosions, shootings and the near obligatory car chase at the end. There are plenty of twists before the truth is exposed; some of these are far from expected. Overall I rather enjoyed this and would recommend it to anybody looking for a thriller with a difference.

U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt) is in Spain for a counter terrorism summit. Before he can begin a speech, he is felled by an assassins' bullet. But is that what really happened? The gimmick of this political action-thriller is that ultimately we get several different perspectives on the events leading up to the event, the event itself, and the tumult that follows. We see things through the eyes of a Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid), a tourist (Forest Whitaker), a Spanish cop (Eduardo Noriega), the terrorists themselves, and a man being made to assist the terrorists because they've kidnapped his brother.This is all really quite senseless. The final third is almost wall to wall action, and it becomes so over the top, with Quaid turning into an indestructible superhero, that it eventually loses its way. The multiple stories do help to make it reasonably absorbing. Director Pete Travis and especially the top notch veteran film editor Stuart Baird do their able best to keep a hold of our attention. This thing moves so damn fast (and clocks in at just over an hour and a half), that Travis and Baird are able to distract some viewers from the more ridiculous aspects of Barry L. Levy's script. On location shooting in Mexico and slick widescreen photography help to make things watchable.Certainly some of the actors give this everything that they've got, performing with admirably straight faces. Joining Hurt, Quaid, and Whitaker are Matthew Fox, Bruce McGill, Edgar Ramirez, Said Taghmaoui, Zoe Saldana, James Le Gros, and Sigourney Weaver.These filmmakers may well keep their viewers on their toes throughout, but eventually the whole thing just becomes silly. Some of the plot twists are reasonably amusing, and all in all "Vantage Point" is able to run on a fair bit of adrenaline.Seven out of 10.

US President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) is in Salamanca, Spain , accompanied by his security agents (Matthew Fox and Dennis Quaid as agent newly returned from previous wounds) , for a world summit where an international treaty dealing with the fight against global terrorism will be signed and which was highly promoted by the USA . Then an unknown sniper is able to shoot him and a bomb goes off in the square and it causes panic , destruction , mass confusion and hysteria . Meanwhile , TV Executive Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver whose role was originally written as a male but filmmaker changed it to a woman because he felt the movie lacked a strong female character) is shooting the surprising deeds . The attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives , as from a tourist (in the original screenplay, the tourist was a Russian , as when Forest Whitaker auditioned for a different role, filmmaker was so impressed that he rewrote as an American tourist) or a Spanish police (Eduardo Noriega) o terrorists (Edgar Ramirez ,Saïd Taghmaoui , Ayelet Zurer) and fourth is the president himself . At the end new vantage point is shown revealing additional details, which definitively completes the flick of what really took place during the incident and who was involved in the conspiracy.Stirring as well as exciting film packs noisy action , thrills , suspense , explosions , violence , twits and turns . Thrilling film with a peculiar edition narrated under several sight points , as various minutes are retold, emphasizing different characters' actions and gradually, we discover who's behind the script . The studio originally wanted to shoot the entire film in Salamanca, Spain, but the local government refused to close the Plaza Mayor for nearly 3 months and only the scenes filmed from the air were shot in Spain , as production was moved to Cuernavaca and Puebla, Mexico . Nevertheless , Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Forest Whitaker and director Pete Travis attended the premiere, held in Salamanca, Spain, on February 12, 2008 and City Hall declared them "Distinguished Guests". The original script set the story in Madrid, but the producers wanted a more "exotic" location. The fact is revealed in some scenes, like the secret service guy who says they can't locate a single person among "5 or 6 million" (Madrid's population; Salamanca's is much smaller), or when the cop enters a Muslim neighborhood during the foot chase , as Madrid has one, but Salamanca doesn't . Very good production design by Brigitte Boch , when shooting was moved to Mexico, the production design team built a replica of Salamanca's Plaza Mayor, which is slightly smaller than the original . There happens an impressive explosion on the Plaza , it was filmed by fifteen different cameras under direction of excellent photographer Amir Mokri who makes a colorful and evocative cinematography . Moving and adequate Original Music by Atli Örvarsson . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Pete Travis . He is a director and writer, known for Dredd (2012) , Omagh (2004) , End game (2008) , TV Henry VIII (2003) and Falcón (TV Series) 2012 , set in Sevilla , Spain . The precocious technical mastery displayed by Peter Travis in ¨Vantage Point¨ is magnificent and he delivers narrative fluidity , being helped by a splendid editor , Stuart Baird , both of whom carry out a complex story paced from multiple viewpoints . Rating : 7 . Interesting action film and it will appeal to thriller fans .

'Vantage Point' is basically a thriller about a terrorist bombing/plot to kill the President of America while he's on an overseas trip. And, as you may probably be thinking, there's not much original about that plot. However, the film's major 'selling point' is that the story is told several times, through the use of different spectators/participants' perspectives (in fact 'Perspective' might have been a more appropriate title!).Therefore, the film-makers can claim it's an original concept applied to a not particularly original idea. And it works... just.For a thriller it ticks all the boxes you want. It has stars (many in fact) who all turn in an acceptable performance (and give them extra credit when none of them are in it ALL the way through, therefore hardly giving them a chance to 'flesh out' their character). It's not that long and there are a good few shoot-outs/explosions/car chases.And that's it really. It could be described as 'run of the mill' if it wasn't for it's different approach to the norm, plus it has just about enough A-list stars in it to raise it above a B-movie. But, at the end of the day, that's basically what it is – a glorified B-movie. But that's no bad thing, as it's highly watchable and should keep you entertained if you like thrillers for just under an hour and a half.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/