(Directed by Pete Travis, Written by Barry L. Levy)

I don’t know how many people were/are actually anticipating this film, but for some reason, I went to see it last night. Perhaps it was the trailer I saw for the movie prior to my viewing of I Am Legend that prompted an [at least] entertaining time, or the promise of Matthew Fox (of LOST). Either way, I went, and was somehow disappointed.

Vantage Point is about the shooting of a fictional American president and sequential bombing during what I can only conclude to be a terrorism summit in Spain. The film lets viewers in on various different viewpoints (or vantage points) leading up to and during the shooting. It was surprisingly unoriginal in its set up: initial scene through the eyes of a GNN news crew, followed by the overdone flashback introduction of “23 minutes earlier” in Courier New. Each flashback which takes us into a new character’s perspective begins at the 12:00:00PM mark, and after a few repetitions of this, the bombing and the shooting become too known, exaggerated.

Exaggerated though they may have been in context of a film, bombings and car chases are pretty intense to watch. Matthew Fox threw viewers a surprise as the film had its falling action, and Dennis Quaid proved he’s in the business for the long run, playing one of the president’s bodyguards who’s already shown he’ll jump in front of a bullet for the man (a back story that seems a little unnecessary as the plot levels).

I was entertained for seventy-five mintues. 6.5/10.

(While searching for images to put here, I found out that “The Vantage Point” was the title of Lyndon B. Johnson’s book (with the sub-header, “Perspectives of the Presidency”) published in 1971.)

(Oh, and I apologize for this poorly-written review… Lacking a bit of enthusiasm, I suppose, which should tell you a bit about how the film left me feeling.)