Movie Review: Vantage Point

Formulated and orchestrated with all the stylistic panache of a freshman Psych 101 term paper, Vantage Point enumerates Suspense For Dummies diagramming, Cliff-noting shortcuts on its depreciated way to ‘Master of Suspense’ - Alfred Hitchcock - emulation. Whereas Sir Hitch plugged into primal fears of the unknown by having ordinary people caught in extraordinary situations, Vantage taps our self-preserving need to unplug, lest our electronic impulses are smelted into second person, Choose Your Own Adventure equipment failure. Assuredly, in the imperfect anticipatory hands of contemporary directors like Brian De Palma or Oliver Stone, Vantage’s original screenplay would have had more heart-pounding appeal. In their absence, we’re left with a roguish, two-pronged boomerang of plot and narrative — neither abstains from... [read full story]