Vantage Point

Jim had some free movie passes that expired today, and was gracious enough not just to let me help him use them but also to pick the movie. We ended up going to a late showing so John opted not to join us, but he'll get to see the DVD when it comes out because I'll almost certainly be buying it.

As an aside, as action movie actors age, they all start turning into the same person. Jim and I both spent a good portion of the first part of the movie going "Is that Harrison Ford? It looks like Harrison Ford, but I don't think it is. He doesn't have the scar that Harrison Ford has." Somehow I think Dennis Quaid might not be thrilled to know about that.

It's an action film, so of course Our Hero survives no less than a half-dozen things that would stop a lesser man. You get the sense that it's just sheer bloody-mindedness that's keeping him going, at least until the very end when he fails to collapse into a heap once the adrenaline wears off. There's also the obligatory Massively Destructive Car Chase at the end. Anyone who's seen a movie in the last decade can spot which character is the first Bad Guy and which one is The Patsy Who Unwittingly Helps The Bad Guy And Will Spend The Rest Of The Film Trying To Clear His/Her Own Name While Simultaneously Trying To Get Revenge For Being Used. The phrase "I trusted you", the pinnacle of movie cliches, is used at the end. This movie has the potential to be incredibly cheesy.

But instead of being cheesy, the story is engaging. You start getting into it, start thinking you know where it's heading, and then the story rewinds back and you see the same thing from someone else's point of view and it takes on a whole new meaning. It's the first film in a long time that's caused me to go "Holy Shit, I didn't see that coming." Just when you think you know what going on and who's on which team, you get another slice of information and it changes everything. The characters are (mostly) believable-- you almost, almost have sympathy for one of the Bad Guys with the highest single-target body count (the bombs have the absolute highest count, and I don't think it's much of a spoiler to reveal that). It's easy to see both sides in the argument between the president and the head of the NSA. The president in the film is one I'd like to have in real life, because just a few hours ago I made a comment in one of greyweirdo's posts about how I'd love to see a politician say "We're better than that" (instead of "We're better than them", which has a whole different meaning), and he actually says it. The Bad Guys have a complex and intelligent plan, and it could have worked if they hadn't had the bad luck of being in a Hollywood film where the Good Guys are required to win. I do wish that more of the details of the plan had been revealed, because there's a big "... and what are they planning to do with [massive spoiler deleted] now that they've gone through all that effort?" question that's left unanswered. I suspect I might be disappointed with a full answer handed to me on a silver platter, but I'm hoping that the Director's Cut of the DVD will at least provide a sliver of insight.

I hate the media people in the film, but without blaming them in the slightest for anything that happens. (Blaming the media for the nation's ills is bullshit anyway-- they wouldn't be feeding us watered down pablum if we weren't gobbling it up hungrily.) They aren't responsible for any of the events in the movie, but the interaction between the reporter who wants to tell an opposing viewpoint and the executives who won't allow it is enough to make me want to search out some opposing viewpoints, just to see what I'm missing. Especially after some of the more extreme opposing viewpoints shoot the president and set off a bomb.

All in all, worth watching, even if you don't happen to have someone with free movie passes who's willing to use them on you.

Vantage Point

Jim had some free movie passes that expired today, and was gracious enough not just to let me help him use them but also to pick the movie. We ended up going to a late showing so John opted not to join us, but he'll get to see the DVD when it comes out because I'll almost certainly be buying it.

As an aside, as action movie actors age, they all start turning into the same person. Jim and I both spent a good portion of the first part of the movie going "Is that Harrison Ford? It looks like Harrison Ford, but I don't think it is. He doesn't have the scar that Harrison Ford has." Somehow I think Dennis Quaid might not be thrilled to know about that.

It's an action film, so of course Our Hero survives no less than a half-dozen things that would stop a lesser man. You get the sense that it's just sheer bloody-mindedness that's keeping him going, at least until the very end when he fails to collapse into a heap once the adrenaline wears off. There's also the obligatory Massively Destructive Car Chase at the end. Anyone who's seen a movie in the last decade can spot which character is the first Bad Guy and which one is The Patsy Who Unwittingly Helps The Bad Guy And Will Spend The Rest Of The Film Trying To Clear His/Her Own Name While Simultaneously Trying To Get Revenge For Being Used. The phrase "I trusted you", the pinnacle of movie cliches, is used at the end. This movie has the potential to be incredibly cheesy.

But instead of being cheesy, the story is engaging. You start getting into it, start thinking you know where it's heading, and then the story rewinds back and you see the same thing from someone else's point of view and it takes on a whole new meaning. It's the first film in a long time that's caused me to go "Holy Shit, I didn't see that coming." Just when you think you know what going on and who's on which team, you get another slice of information and it changes everything. The characters are (mostly) believable-- you almost, almost have sympathy for one of the Bad Guys with the highest single-target body count (the bombs have the absolute highest count, and I don't think it's much of a spoiler to reveal that). It's easy to see both sides in the argument between the president and the head of the NSA. The president in the film is one I'd like to have in real life, because just a few hours ago I made a comment in one of greyweirdo's posts about how I'd love to see a politician say "We're better than that" (instead of "We're better than them", which has a whole different meaning), and he actually says it. The Bad Guys have a complex and intelligent plan, and it could have worked if they hadn't had the bad luck of being in a Hollywood film where the Good Guys are required to win. I do wish that more of the details of the plan had been revealed, because there's a big "... and what are they planning to do with [massive spoiler deleted] now that they've gone through all that effort?" question that's left unanswered. I suspect I might be disappointed with a full answer handed to me on a silver platter, but I'm hoping that the Director's Cut of the DVD will at least provide a sliver of insight.

I hate the media people in the film, but without blaming them in the slightest for anything that happens. (Blaming the media for the nation's ills is bullshit anyway-- they wouldn't be feeding us watered down pablum if we weren't gobbling it up hungrily.) They aren't responsible for any of the events in the movie, but the interaction between the reporter who wants to tell an opposing viewpoint and the executives who won't allow it is enough to make me want to search out some opposing viewpoints, just to see what I'm missing. Especially after some of the more extreme opposing viewpoints shoot the president and set off a bomb.

All in all, worth watching, even if you don't happen to have someone with free movie passes who's willing to use them on you.