The scatter gun approach; VANTAGE POINT 6/10

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), March 10, 2008

SOMETIMES, the truth is hidden in plain sight - you just need to know where to look.

Vantage Point is an intricate action-thriller, which replays a devastating terrorist attack from eight perspectives, exposing a web of intrigue, which leaves the American president fighting for his life during a high profile visit to Salamanca in Spain.

Screenwriter Barry L Levy draws inspiration from Rashomon, replaying events from these radically different viewpoints to reveal the truth, one fragment at a time.

He doesn't play fair, though.

Coincidence and chance nudge the film increasingly towards implausibility like the American tourist who gets the urge to shadow a police chase with his camera in order to feed us at least one red herring.

There's little chance of figuring out the truth behind the subterfuge because key evidence, which should by rights be supplied by characters in earlier segments, is withheld until the final iteration.

Manchester-born director Pete Travis fills the screen with enough pyrotechnics and noise to keep our eyes and ears engaged even if our brains are not - including a well orchestrated car chase that sees one character follow Jason Bourne's example and emerge from twisted metal and shattered glass almost unscathed.

However, he's far less successful with the quieter, emotional moments - what few there are - hamstrung by a noticeable lack of depth to the characters as they fight for survival.

President Ashton (William Hurt) travels to Spain to make a keynote address to set out his vision for a new world order, determined to eradicate the threat of terrorism.

As he approaches the lectern, two shots ring out and Secret Service agents Thomas Barnes (Denis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) rush to the president's aid, tackling Enrique (Eduardo Noriego), a member of the mayor's security team as he rushes the stage.

In the ensuing pandemonium, Thomas notices American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) digitally recording the incident and they hastily review the footage, discovering too late that the terrorists have left another surprise for the Secret Service.

Meanwhile, veteran television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigour-ney Weaver) watches in horror as her reporter Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana) is caught up in the chaos.

Elsewhere in the city, Javier (Edgar Ramirez) exchanges harsh words with Veronica (Zurer), whose boyfriend is spying on the pair of them, and US government adviser Phil McCullough (Bruce McGill) proposes a devastating counter-strike against the likely culprits.

Enjoyed on its own flimsy terms, Vantage Point is a big, muscular popcorn movie with some decent action sequences and teasing cliff-hangers.

Some of the cast fare better than others, but to say who would ruin the twists (if you've seen the trailer then, annoyingly, you'll be aware of most of them).

Running time is kept to a minimum, sacrificing deep relationships between the protagonists to propel the story forwards, even if that is into the realms of the absurd.

CAPTION(S):

In a nutshell: Convoluted twists and turns of presidential assassination attempts from several perspectives.