Vantage Point

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The President of The United States of America (Hurt) is shot by an unknown assailant, as several narrative strands unravel to reveal the true goings-on in a shattering conspiracy, that will see many innocent bystanders dead. There's a very funny line, in the very funny Knocked Up when Seth Rogen spews: "You know what's interesting about Matthew Fox? Absolutely nothing". As funny as it is harsh, Rogen obviously knew something we didn't. Granted, it's somewhat unfair to single out Fox, as he's just one bad thing in a film bulging with them; but you can't deny the precision of such an observation when watching his seemingly redundant character predictably unravel, like a crusty carpet rolled down a muddy hill. Everything here has an underlining bang of cheese, from Quaid's veteran Secret Service agent returning after having previously saved the President's life, to the utterly useless-until-the-final-reel Forest Whitaker, who loves kids, and tells total strangers about his marital difficulties to give his wafer-thin character some context. I can almost hear the Oscar-winner shouting down the phone to his agent: "I was the president of Uganda a bleedin' year ago, now I'm a fat dude with a camera in a shabby ensemble piece!? Get me Ari Gold". Director Pete Travis had been mooted by some as the new Paul Greengrass, having thus far followed a similar career path by directing a made-for-television project based on a sectarian incident (Omagh); but that really is where the similarities end. Travis appears to simply join the cinematic dots, from a bad script riddled with some hilariously cliched dialogue ("Meeeeeedic, someone get me a meeeedic"). It's not so much the monotonous plot that makes this such a mess, but the sheer lack of effort from everyone involved. There was potential here - and not just to entertain your regular cinema-going sort - but proper potential to say something relevant about the current state of the world. If all concerned simply wanted to make a watchable popcorn-chewer, then they should've concentrated on that as opposed to shoving a mixed and contrived political message down our throats. Also, the car chase is crap, whatever the posters say.

Details: USA / 90mins (12A)