Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point is a 2008 American political action thriller film directed by Pete Travis. It was adapted from a screenplay written by Barry L. Levy. The story focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States as seen from a different set of vantage points through the eyes of eight strangers. Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver star in principal roles. The film is cited for its use of the Rashomon Effect; a reference to a type of filmmaking used in the 1950 film Rashomon directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film recounts a series of events which are re-enacted from several different perspectives and viewpoints.

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Plot: U.S. President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) attends a political summit in Salamanca, Spain to promote an international treaty. Displayed with eight differing viewpoints, an assassination attempt on the president occurs, relayed in a time span of 23 minutes. Each time the events unfold from the beginning, a new vantage point is shown revealing additional details, which ultimately completes the story of what actually took place during the incident and who was involved in the conspiracy. From the first vantage point, GNN producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver), directs various media personnel from a mobile television studio as the president arrives at the gathering. Mayor De Soto (Jose Carlos Rodriguez) delivers a short speech and then introduces the president, who is shot twice as he greets the crowd from the podium. An explosion outside the plaza soon follows. Moments later, the podium itself is destroyed by a secondary explosion, killing and injuring numerous people. As the smoke clears, GNN reporter Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana) is seen lying dead in the rubble. The second vantage point is seen through the perspective of Secret Service agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox). Barnes notices a curtain fluttering in the window of a nearby building that was allegedly vacated. He also observes American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) filming the audience. After the president is shot, Barnes tackles a man rushing to the podium named Enrique (Eduardo Noriega). Taylor pursues a lead to a potential assassin. Following the second explosion, Barnes barges into the GNN production studio and asks to view their footage. He calls Taylor, who reports the direction of the suspected assassin's escape route. Barnes then views an image on one of the camera's live feeds that startles him and prompts him to run out.

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In a third vantage point, Enrique, who claims to be a Spanish police officer assigned to protecting the mayor of Salamanca, sees his girlfriend Veronica (Ayelet Zurer), being embraced by a stranger and overhears them speaking about meeting under an overpass. When he confronts her, Veronica assures Enrique of her love for him as he hands her a bag that she asked him to bring. When the president is shot, Enrique rushes onto the stage to protect the mayor, but is tackled by Barnes. While being detained, he witnesses Veronica toss the bag he gave her under the podium, causing the second explosion. Enrique escapes as the agents who previously had him in custody, mount a chase while firing shots in his direction, failing to subdue him. Enrique confronts an unseen individual at the overpass and asks if he is surprised to see him still alive. A fourth vantage point revolves around Howard Lewis who is chatting with a man called Sam (Said Taghmaoui), while a little girl named Anna (Alicia Zapien), bumps into him and drops her ice cream. Later, Lewis notices Barnes looking at the curtain fluttering in the window of a nearby building, and captures the footage with his camcorder. Following the second explosion at the podium, Lewis chases Enrique and the pursuing Secret Service agents. At the overpass, Lewis views the pair of agents from afar shooting in the direction of Enrique as he greets an individual in a police uniform under the overpass. Seriously wounded, Enrique falls to the ground. Lewis sees Anna who had earlier become separated from her mother, trying to cross a busy intersection. An ambulance races down the road about to hit Anna, as Lewis runs out to save her.

–from wikipedia

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Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point (2008)

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Vantage Point (2008)

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