Vantage Point

Title: Vantage Point
Year: 2008
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whittaker.

The entire movie is 90 minutes of repeating the same 10 minutes of footage- the movie is shot from a # of cameras, and the audience ends up re-living the whole deal from the "vantage point" of every important character in the movie :S

The plot in faux-operatic/monosyllable-ic-Greek-chorus form:
- The President goes to Spain to make a speech. (Greek chorus: "oh ok")

- There is a terrorist plot going on. (Greek chorus: "oh no")

- The President & his men find out about it and replace the Prez-with a look alike. (Greek chorus: "woo hoo!")

- The terrorists shoot the replacement, blow up everything and find out where the real Prez is hidden, and kidnap. (Greek chorus: "oh no")

- Denny Quaid and Forest Whittaker, in their own small ways, manage to foil the terrorists' evil plans- the latter party all die, and Whittaker even saves a little girl. (Greek chorus: "woohoo", and "awww")

Highlights:
1- Dennis Quaid is seriously getting better with age. From being eminently cringe-worthy in the 80s to a interesting actor (in my book) in the 2000s, he has come a long way- let’s hear it for the man!
2- Matthew Fox gets an unpleasant character, but is hunky regardless, so who cares.....
3- Forest Whittaker's is the only character with some humanity- or perhaps it’s just that the man has superior acting chops vs. that of his colleagues.

Quibbles:
1- HOW can the director milk a paper thin plot for 1.5 hrs??? How???
2- HOW can the director get away with slapping together 1.5 hrs of a movie with just 1/2 hr of real footage???
3- Completely lost opportunity to get in side stories of terrorists/officers into the plot- this could be so much more than just a bunch of camera angles....
4- Why the heck did I waste my time and money????