.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

When a Peace Summit in Spain goes awry and the President of the United States is shot, the experiences and participation of various individuals present during the assassination attempt are explored in the new action thriller Vantage Point.

Starring Dennis Quaid, Sigourney Weaver, Forrest Whitaker, William Hurt and Matthew Fox, Vantage Point presents itself as thrill ride where the pieces to the political plot are placed in our collective laps for 90 minutes with each storyline giving us new information as to the identity of all those involved in the event.

Front and center of it all is Thomas Barnes (Quaid). Only one year removed from an assassination attempt on the President that left Barnes himself shot, Barnes is back by the Commander-In-Chief's side. Having shunned the limelight that comes with being the person who jumped in front of a bullet, Barnes is exactly the kind of man you would want when the bad stuff hits the fan.

Barnes shares the stage with the President when two shots are fired from a loft window. His reaction is swift amongst the chaos and he quickly tackles someone he suspects is involved. As chaos rains and people trample out of the gathering square in mass, an explosion is heard in the distance. Still not deflected from his duty, Barnes continues his pursuit of the gunman with fellow Secret Service Agent Kent Taylor (Fox). In what seems like an hour, but in reality is only minutes, they yell, point and run in various directions until a second blast blows the political stage apart and sends the race for those responsible into overdrive.

Vantage Point then rewinds. We go back to the noon hour only to have the whole scenario play out again, this time through the eyes of another character. Then we go back again. Then again. Then again. Then again.

Vantage Point then plays out like Groundhog Day on amphetamines. And although that might seem like an endorsement, the ten minute segments that are repeated like a Taco Bell combo plate become tiresome and seemingly endless in return. By the time we get beyond the novelty of the direction style and on to some straight linear action sequences, we are beaten down by the repetitive nature that has us readjusting our chair position as if the movie is about to begin all over again.

I can conclude hours after the screening that the goal of repeating the same scene over and over again with different vantage points was probably a directorial ploy to keep our minds off the implausibility of the unfolding conspiracy. Body doubles, double crosses, kidnappers and suicide bombers all come into action in what must have been a fairly complicated script read.

All these points lead to a car chase scene through the narrow streets of Spain where people can still dial their phones while racing at incredible speeds through people infested side streets and where airbags seem to be something not yet discovered by the European car manufacturing market.

Instead of raising the bar, Vantage Point plays mostly like one of those really good Saturday evening flicks you might get on cable. Almost like 24 with a bigger budget. Luckily, the actors - Quaid, Hurt and Whitaker in particular - all take their roles very seriously and deliver better performances than the film deserves thus elevating Vantage Point into barely recommendable status.