Actionmovies and improbabilities - there's a controversial relationship. Now I don't mind people jumping through fiery rings while dodging bullets from 3 machine guns and somehow managing to land without getting a scratch on their macho stubble bearded faces, replacing intelligent writing with adrenaline rush entertainment can be a fair trade. Sadly, I can't say 'Vantage Point' entertained me very much, and it's chock full of highly implausible events. For one, I'd assume the secret service'd employ more than just a handful of men to guard the president, especially when the threat alert level has been raised high. And why doesn't anyone seem to wear flack jackets?? Brushing aside the ridiculously dull (and formulaic) storyline, the director just bored me with his action sequences. I kept waiting for this sub-par episode of '24' to improve, but I waited in vain.
It doesn't help of course that the incredibly annoying Dennis Quaid got way too much screen time in this debacle, he possesses two facial modes: angry and not angry (but usually it's angry). I love Matthew Fox on 'Lost' but unfortunately we see way too little of his character for the actor to really make an impression. Pete Travis wastes most of the good names on the cast list (Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt), Forest Whitaker is the only A-grade actor that is given a decent amount of screen time, but he never appears to find his character, instead he gives us a mixture of some of his earlier characters (the gentle hearted man in The Crying Game, the calculated reasonable man in Phone Booth).
For me, the hardest films to review are the ones that excel and those who plummet deep into failure, I mention this to explain why this review may sound dull and uninspired, it is born out of the mediocrity of the film. Do yourself a favor dear reader, far craftier action movies and TV-series await you, pass up on this one.
It doesn't help of course that the incredibly annoying Dennis Quaid got way too much screen time in this debacle, he possesses two facial modes: angry and not angry (but usually it's angry). I love Matthew Fox on 'Lost' but unfortunately we see way too little of his character for the actor to really make an impression. Pete Travis wastes most of the good names on the cast list (Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt), Forest Whitaker is the only A-grade actor that is given a decent amount of screen time, but he never appears to find his character, instead he gives us a mixture of some of his earlier characters (the gentle hearted man in The Crying Game, the calculated reasonable man in Phone Booth).
For me, the hardest films to review are the ones that excel and those who plummet deep into failure, I mention this to explain why this review may sound dull and uninspired, it is born out of the mediocrity of the film. Do yourself a favor dear reader, far craftier action movies and TV-series await you, pass up on this one.