Blu-ray Review: Vantage Point

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Vantage Point starts out with a very interesting, original and ambitious concept of showing a shocking incident from the vantage point of many different individuals. There is an assassination attempt on the President of the United States at a world conference in Spain. The actual shooting of the President and the moments leading up to it are shown from the view point of a television news network team producing the coverage, one of the secret service agents, a witness and various participants in the assassination plot. There are about 7 vantage points in all before the action picks up again in a unified manner when the film warps up fairly quickly to a conclusion. In fact, without the vantage points, the film would be about 30 minutes long. While this is a fairly interesting concept, the sheer number of different vantage points is the weak spot of the film. Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting plot twists disclosed during the various vantage points so that by the end of them, you know exactly what is transpiring. However, there are just too many of them. By the fourth one, you are beginning to wonder when it will end and move on with the rest of the film. The film would have had much better pacing and better impact had some of the various plot twists in the various vantage points been combined. On the plus side, the action sequences are very well done, especially the car chase at the end, even though it did have a bit of a Bourne Ultimatum feel to it. I found the acting to be very good across the board. In short, it is a great idea that could have been executed better. Nonetheless, it is a solid film and well worth at least a rental.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
Vantage Point is encoded with AVC and is presented on a 50 GB disc in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. In a word, it is an excellent transfer, one of the better ones I have seen recently. The image from this disc is crystal clear and razor sharp with excellent detail. There is no evidence of any digital noise reduction here. From skin textures to clothing to backgrounds, this film has detail galore. Color reproduction is spot on as well with excellent skin tones. Blacks are deep and solid, giving the film a wonderful three dimensional appearance as well. In short, there was really nothing at all I found to quibble with the video on this release. It is that good. Well done.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
As was the case with the video, the high rez audio track here is excellent as well, presented with Dolby True HD. Right from the get go, the soundtrack here has excellent dynamics. Bass is deep and tight, providing a solid foundation to the action sequences. Good use is made of the surrounds as well providing an excellent immersive field, placing you in the action. I found the chase scene at the end of the film to be particularly effective in this respect. You feel as though you are in the vehicles with the characters. The overall sound of the film can be described as smooth and open without even a hint of hardness to the sound. This is a film where you can really crank up the volume without worrying about listener fatigue. I really enjoyed how the sound field captured the ambiance in each of the various locals of the film, from the production truck to the hotel rooms to the vehicles and the square where the shooting took place. My only quibble with the audio presentation here was with the dialogue track which in a few spots, I found to be just a smidge on the low side so that you had to strain to hear the dialogue. Fortunately, these incidents were few and far between and ultimately, did not really detract from my enjoyment of the film. Otherwise, the dialogue is well recorded with very good fidelity, with the voices capturing the different acoustics in the various locales in the film.

IN CONCLUSION
In short, while the film could have been better executed, Vantage Point did prove to be an interesting and provocative film. The audio and video presentation on this Blu-Ray disc is excellent and well worth checking out.

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