Vantage Point review

Vantage Point starts with the US President arriving in Spain for a summit meeting about global terrorism. As the ‘leader of the free world’ prepares to take the stage, shots ring out and he falls to the ground, then a massive explosion decimates the area. But suddenly the events rewind and we see them from a different perspective, and then another, and another...
Vantage Point is a clever, tricky thriller that feels a bit like 24 meets Rashamon. It should have been great, but as the story progresses it gets more and more ludicrous, with the narrative spiralling out of control. Still the concept is strong enough to keep most intrigued.

Richard W Holliss: Brightly-lit locations can result in higher-than-usual contrast levels. In Vantage Point, this is further complicated by the quick pans and fast-editing that accompanies the switching back and forth between real time, CCTV footage and grainy-looking flashbacks. But colours are natural and focus is pin-sharp, particularly during the crowd scenes in Chapters 6 and 14. A car chase towards the movie’s climax betrays moments of less-than-impressive CGI, but the anamorphic 2.35:1 image is still good enough to immerse you in the action.

Mark Craven: Just from the few seconds of gunfire during Chapter 3, you know that Vantage Point’s Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is going to rock. And it continues to do so, making use of the full surround field whenever it can, be it during a sprint through busy streets (Chapter 14) or a high-speed car chase (Chapter 25). First-rate stuff.

Anton van Beek: Arriving as a two-disc set, Vantage Point offers some interesting extras
– although there are a couple of problems, too. Pick of the bunch is a chat-track by director Peter Travis, who uses the time to discuss the intricacies of the film’s production. Also included on the first disc are a pair of behind-the-scenes featurettes, a short gag-reel and trailers. The copy of the second disc I received repeats two of the featurettes included on Disc One, which seems very unusual. However, the main bonus here is a Digital Copy, which I’d love to tell you about, but not only does it require a code to access (which the studio wouldn’t tell us), but it wouldn’t even recognise Internet Explorer 7 on a Windows Vista PC, despite requesting IE6 or higher.

Sony Pictures, R2 DVD, £22
HCC VERDICT: 3/5