Vantage Point (2008)

Director:

Pete Travis

Writer (WGA):

Barry Levy (written by)

Release Date:

22 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth.

Plot:

The attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives.

Plot Keywords:

President | Secret Service | Time | Salamanca Spain | Camera

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Thomas Barnes
Matthew Fox	...	Kent Taylor
Forest Whitaker	...	Howard Lewis
Bruce McGill	...	Phil McCullough
Édgar Ramírez	...	Javier (as Edgar Ramirez)
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Suarez
Ayelet Zurer	...	Veronica
Zoe Saldana	...	Angie Jones (as Zoë Saldana)
Sigourney Weaver	...	Rex Brooks
William Hurt	...	President Ashton
James LeGros	...	Ted Heinkin (as James Le Gros)
Eduardo Noriega	...	Enrique
Richard T. Jones	...	Holden
Holt McCallany	...	Ron Matthews
Leonardo Nam	...	Kevin Cross

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Finland:K-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Hong Kong:IIA | Malaysia:U | Norway:15 | Australia:M | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42768) | Ireland:12A | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:12 | Sweden:11 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Taiwan:PG-12 | UK:12A | Malta:12 | Greece:K-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:14 | Peru:14 | Canada:14A | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures

Trivia:

As the shooting was moved to Mexico, the production design department was forced to build a replica of the Plaza Mayor of Salamanca in Mexico. The replica is slightly smaller and simpler than the original.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Several North American vehicles can be spotted during the car chase. Among them are the North American Ford Escort and Focus (Ford Escort and Ford Focus are quite common in Spain). The emergency vehicles are also Chevys and Freightliners.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mark Reinhart: Good morning, America. It's now 12 noon in Salamanca, Spain. In a short time, world leaders from over 150 countries meet here in Plaza Mayor to sign up to President Ashton's bold new counterterrorist strategy. Since 9/11, more than 4500 people have been killed in the rising tide of global terror...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.30)" (2009)

A terrific thriller high in action...

Inside Plaza Mayor in Salamanca, Spain the president (William Hurt) is preparing himself to make a speech on the anti-terrorism international summit…

For months, President Ashton has been working with leaders from five continents to take a stand against global terror… Security services were on high alert… But suddenly agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) saw something like a flash of light and two shots were heard… The president appears to have been hit… It also appears there was a mysterious woman with the name of Veronica (Ayelet Zurer) throwing 'something' underneath the podium…

But soon Barnes discovers that something has gone rogue and there's something else going on… It's like somebody has been set up… It's like this war will never end…

Viewed through different points of view and multiple perspectives, "Vantage Point" is an extremely energetic motion picture featuring the best I've seen of car chases used to maximum effect by director Pete Travis…