Vantage Point (film)

Vantage Point is a 2008 American political action thriller film directed by Pete Travis; it was adapted from a screenplay written by Barry L. Levy. The story focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States, as seen from the various vantage points of different characters. Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver star in principal roles. The film is often compared, unfavorably, to Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, which also employed storytelling through multiple perspectives. Rashomon used the multiple perspectives to question the possibility of truth, in a process called the Rashomon effect; in contrast, Vantage Point recounts a series of events which are re-enacted from several different perspectives and viewpoints in order to reveal a truthful account of what happened. Vantage Point also explores kidnapping, assassination and terrorism.

The motion picture was co-produced by Relativity Media, Original Film, and Art In Motion. It was commercially distributed by Columbia Pictures theatrically, and by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in home media format. The film project began principal photography in Mexico City on June 18, 2006. Executive producers for the film included Callum Greene, Tania Landau, and Lynwood Spinks. On February 26, 2008, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released by the Varèse Sarabande label. The film score was composed by musician Atli Örvarsson.