Blu-ray review: Vantage Point

United States President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) is in Salamanca, Spain to attend an anti-terrorism summit. An American cable news channel is tracking the event, and Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) is directing traffic from the OB van, when she notices Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), back on detail so soon after taking a bullet for Ashton earlier on in the year. She watches on her monitors as Ashton is introduced by the Spanish mayor, and is about to deliver his speech. Without warning, Ashton is shot twice in the chest, and utter chaos ensues. She watches as Secret Service agents surround the president and usher him into an ambulance, and amid the confusion, a massive explosion goes off in the plaza, completely destroying the podium and killing several people. At this point, the camera rewinds to the point in time where we initially joined Brooks, but the perspective changes.

The tagline for Vantage Point is “8 Strangers. 8 Points of View. 1 Truth”, and over the same 23-minute period that is looped over and over, the assassination of the U.S. President unfolds through the eyes of different people. With each perspective and subsequent rewind, a valuable new piece of the puzzle is revealed.

How complex does the puzzle get? Read on and find out.

Going into any more perspective will give away too much of the plot, but amongst others, you will follow Secret Service agents Barnes and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) as they search for any clues about the possible shooter; you will tag along with Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), an American tourist with a video camera who may have videotaped the assassin; you will sneak around with  Spanish police officer Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) as he spies his girlfriend Veronica (Ayelet Zurer) in an embrace with a handsome stranger Javier (Edgar Ramirez). You will also see it from the terrorists view as they go about executing their heinous attempt. As more details are revealed through each perspective, all roads will lead you to a heart-pounding car chase and surprising final act…

Vantage Point has a run time of 132 minutes and is rated 13 (V). This Blu-ray release presents the film re-mastered in High Definition (HD) and comes packed with special features including:

• Audio Commentary — the director talks about the film’s production.
• An Inside Perspective — an electronic press kit (EPK) of the film’s production including interviews with cast and crew.
• Plotting an Assassination — explores how each point of view fits into the story.
• Coordinating Chaos — shows off the stunt work that was performed including the thrilling car chase scenes, and crashes.
• Surveillance Tapes — deleted scenes of sorts.
• Theatrical Trailers

Vantage Point is another Blu-ray title that is BD-Live enabled. BD-Live allows for interactive viewing and enables you to download additional content over the Internet using a BD-Live equipped Blu-ray player or a Sony PlayStation 3. BD-Live is selectable from Special Features menu.

An exclusive Blu-ray feature, the Vantage Viewer: GPS Tracker, add a docked interface that allows you to track the movements of each character during the film. You can also access alternate camera angles (or aptly named vantage points) via a Picture-in-Picture (PIP) window.

Vantage Point was kindly supplied for review by Nelmari Claassens, SterKinekor Home Entertainment Marketing Manager for Sony Pictures. Go to www.bluraydisc.co.za to view the latest Blu-ray news, reviews and competitions featured on SterKinekor Home Entertainment’s newsletter. Sony Pictures can be found on the Web at www.sonypictures.com.