Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt

Dir: Pete Travis

Rating:2/5

First time director Pete Travis brings together a high quality cast in Vantage Point, which, on paper, is a highly complicated script that shows the assassination attempt of a President from a series of different angles.

U.S. president Ashton (William Hurt) is in Salamanca, Spain (though much of the film was actually shot in Mexico), to announce plans for a major global summit on terrorism.

But as he stands behind the podium in front of an adoring crowd (with protesters blocked off from the stage), he is shot twice, followed shortly by a small explosion and then a massive blast.

Secret Service Agents Barnes (Dennis Quaid), Taylor (Matthew Fox), and Holden (Richard T. Jones) immediately jump into action, trying to find the terrorists responsible amid all the chaos.

The thriller first shows the events through the eyes of television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver), and then the film rewinds, replaying the action from a different point of view.

This film is just too busy with too many strands all aiming to show different aspects of the attempted assassination that if you see the rewind sign one more time you really will want to punch the person sat next to you.

Fewer points of view may have filled this film with more suspense but it's so crowded that it sadly loses it's suspense. The fact that Travis is a debutante filmmaker really shows as he is unable to effectively pull all the strings of the script together for a satisfying ending. .

However the visual aspects of the film are top notch and the car chase is perhaps the most exciting part of the whole film, however if Dennis Quaid could leave a car wreck with merely a crumpled suit is doubtful.

What the film does have in it's favour is it's very strong cast however the likes of Sigourney Weaver are desperately under-used. Forest Whitaker is perhaps the strongest member of the cast but you are left asking why, after such a great turn in The Last King of Scotland, he would choose a script like this.

While this film had lots of potential but too many different strands, as well as running too long, this film runs out of pace and perhaps in the hands of a more accomplished director it could have been so much more.

Vantage Point is out on DVD now

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw