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.