Vantage Point

Having started the day in good spirit following the Gunners' Italian Job at San Siro, I thought of watching a movie & hence, texted Shiowch after reading her tongue-in-cheek Facebook update during lunch about being the government's PR writer. Turns out, she herself was thinking of asking me whether I was interested in watching the movie Vantage Point, starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker & Sigourney Weaver. It was that or Before The Devil Knows You Are Dead. Checking the show times at GSC 1U, we agreed on Vantage Point & set a meeting time.

I left the office at 1730 & managed to reach 1U about half an hour earlier than expected as the roads were clear half the journey there. Spent the free time viewing an F1 exhibition at the concourse from afar & visiting Marks & Spencer to browse what they actually have here compared to the range in UK. We duly met at the stipulated time, visited briefly 2 bookstores & had dinner before the movie.

Vantage Point is in the nutshell about an assassination attempt on the President of the United States (referred to in short as POTUS in the film) during an anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca Spain over a period of less than half an hour. What made this movie as long as it is can be attributed to the different point of views that the viewer is treated to before the plot is resolved (hence the movie title). There are 5 points of views, namely those of the TV news crew, followed by those of a US secret service agent, a Spanish police officer, an American tourist and lastly, the POTUS himself. The 1st perspective (from the TV crew) establishes what has happened in general & each subsequent perspective adds additional info until the plot resolves after the POTUS' point of view arch.

Though I found it engaging, the presentation of various perspective or point of views do get tedious after a while. In my humble opinion, losing 2 of the perspectives or combining 3 of them may have made it less repetitive (despite the different points of views, some elements of the story remain the same throughout each perspective). The plot twist is palpable but the car chase across the narrow streets of Salamanca is rather surreal for me. I mean, how is it that the cars involved in the chase are always able to maneuver without hitting those whom they are not meant to hit (i.e. those walk at the side of the roads) & there are always space between vehicles even in heavy traffic? When I was driving into Klang after 2130 just now, the traffic was still terrible & there's virtually no space to conduct a car chase on a 3 lane main road. Perhaps drivers in the continent are really good drivers who drive with a safe distance between cars, unlike the devils behind the wheels here.

I give Vantage Point 3 stars out of 5. Do watch it for the vantage point or various perspective on an event.

I am gonna have some supper before zzz.

Lastly, as you may notice, this post is the 4th one of the day, a landmark for mOAm. Ok, ok, the 3rd posting was an old review that I just completed & posted. However, even at 3 postings, it's a rare. Many views of different things, eh? :D

Till later, live long & prosper.