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Vantage Point Counter Point

        I realize Little Merry Sunshine didn’t care much for Vantage Point, and I have to admit her review swayed us and we seriously thought about skipping the movie. But, mid-Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves in the mood for a movie. Something we could check into and be entertained by the visual stimulation. We didn’t want to have to think too much, as in Funny Games. And we didn’t want to be rolling our eyes at sappy self-realization motivated by the innocent wisdom of a 5-year-old, as in Definitely, Maybe. So when we arrived at the box office and Vantage Point was just starting, we decided to give it a try.
        Unlike Merry Sunshine, we enjoyed it.
        Vantage Point employs an interesting technique, showing the same scene, but from the different perspectives of the key characters. As we go through each character’s version, the viewer obtains new pieces of the puzzle, until you have a cohesive story line. It’s not as much work as it sounds, as the director has been careful to provide cues to help you figure out where you are at throughout.
        There are some perspectives that I was left wanting a bit more of, though. When Dennis Quaid, the lead Secret Service Agent storms into the television control room, he has a phone conversation revealing inside information. Sigourney Weaver, who plays the stunning news producer who directs the live broadcast passes the information on to her live reporter. We never see the consequences of that action. We learn later the information is incorrect, but it would have certainly gone out on the airwaves. So does it lead to more confusion? Or does the press piece together a different story than what was being fed to them. Sigourney is too great of an actor to have just a minor role. We should have seen more of her, and that sassy new hairdo she was sporting.
        More important than plot, the portrayal of terrorists as ruthlessly arresting studs and studettes, had me sympathizing for their noble, yet misguided principles. The stunning beauty and romance of a sweating stud in a Spanish plaza more than makes up for the logic wormholes that plague the plot throughout. To go with the story, one really has to suspend any sense of reality, space and time -- when the viewer sees the wormhole, they just have to jump through it with the dark-featured, handsome, glistening terrorist. As long as the viewer can do that, then you’ll enjoy the trip Vantage Point has to offer.