Vantage Point

The film is set in Salamanca, Spain, but it was mostly filmed in Mexico; only some of the scenes were shot in Salamanca. The United States President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) is holding an anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca. Over a twenty-three-minute period, an assassination attempt on the President unfolds. The film loops through this period over and over, each time from the perspective of a different participant, adding a new piece to the larger puzzle with each loop.

Rex Brook's perspective

The first perspective is that of television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) who directs various "GNN" cameramen and news anchors as the President arrives. Just as the mayor of Salamanca finishes his speech and the President steps up to the podium, he is shot twice. An explosion in the distance soon follows, and a few minutes later the podium is destroyed by another explosion, killing GNN's news reporter; she is filmed lying dead.

Thomas Barnes' perspective

The second perspective is that of Secret Service agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox). While the mayor is speaking, Barnes notices a moving curtain in a nearby building. Agents sent to investigate find a fan that they report had been left on. Barnes also spots a man (Forest Whitaker) with a video camera in the crowd. After the President is shot, he tackles a man rushing the podium, who is then dragged off by other agents. Barnes and Taylor run up to the man they saw earlier and Barnes insists on viewing the footage on the video camera. Barnes is fairly sure that he spotted the shooter in one of the windows and the man thinks he might have caught the assassin on film. Taylor announces his intentions to go after the assassin. Barnes wants to come with, but Taylor tells Barnes to stay in order to avoid being blamed for failing to spot the assassin in time. Taylor goes off in pursuit as Barnes continues to review the footage. He sees something that alerts him to a probable bomb under the podium and starts running but is too late to alert anyone. Once the podium is destroyed, Barnes catches sight of a GNN cameraman fleeing the destruction, and heads for their van to get a better idea of what happened. He barges into the mobile production room and orders Brooks to show him their footage. While they are rewinding the film, Barnes talks to Taylor, who reports being in hot pursuit of the suspect and in need of immediate assistance. Barnes attempts to reach the Secret Service temporary command center (with call sign "Control"), but does not get a response. His perspective ends when he catches sight of something shocking on one of the live feeds.

Enrique's perspective

This is followed by the perspective of Enrique (Eduardo Noriega), a police officer assigned to protect the mayor. He spots his girlfriend being embraced by a stranger and overhears them speaking about a meeting under a nearby underpass. When he confronts her, she assures him in Spanish that she loves him and him alone. She then asks if he has brought her bag and Enrique nods and hands it over. When the President is shot, Enrique rushes onto the stage to protect the mayor and is tackled by Agent Barnes. As he is in Secret Service custody, Enrique watches his girlfriend toss the bag he gave her under the podium. Realizing that there must have been a bomb in the bag, he breaks custody and starts running to the underpass that he heard about earlier while Secret Service agents attempt to recapture him but fail to do so while chasing him through several buildings. His scene ends as he confronts someone at the underpass, asking if they are surprised to see him still alive. Like in the previous scenes, the viewer is not shown the "surprise element".

Howard Lewis' perspective

The next perspective is that of Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), an American tourist who thinks he’s captured the shooter on his video camera while recording the event for his family back home. While waiting for the president to speak, he makes small talk with a man named Sam and is accidentally bumped into by a little girl named Anna, causing her ice cream cone to fall to the ground. He apologizes in Spanish and offers to buy her a new one, but her mother declines. He notices one of the Secret Service agents, Agent Barnes, looking at a window and aims his camera at it before pointing it at the podium again. After the president is shot, he stands and films the pandemonium while the crowd flees. Barnes runs up to him and requests to view the film in Lewis' video camera, they both see a woman throw a bag under the podium, which is what alerted Barnes in his scene. After the bomb explodes, he picks up Anna, who has lost her mother, while chasing Enrique and the pursuing agents. Dropping Anna off with a female Spanish police officer, Lewis continues to run after Enrique. Lewis is standing on the pedestrian overpass when police officers fire in Enrique's direction and Enrique collapses, mortally wounded. A single policeman approaches the fallen Enrique from the other direction and crouches down beside him. Lewis then spies Anna, who has run away from the police officer, standing at the edge of the very busy road that runs under the overpass. She sees her mother on the other side and starts to run toward her, much to Lewis' horror. As an ambulance is seconds away from running Anna over, Lewis runs out on to the street to save her, ending his perspective.

President Ashton's perspective

The scene moves on to the perspective of the real President Ashton. Unknown to the public and GNN, and initially to the film audience, it is a body double of the president that has been shot. Having been informed of a credible assassination threat, he had actually returned to his hotel and was awaiting his body double giving his speech. During this transition to the hotel, the president's advisor Phil McCullough is advocating an attack on a supposdly related terrorist camp in Morocco. Watching on television, Ashton watches his double walk to his seat and says comically "He doesn't even look like me." Ashton is upset when he sees that Tom Barnes, who had previously saved him from another assassination is being put out front to test his recovery. Shortly after, the body double is shot, much to the surprise of the president and his advisors. The immediate reaction of his advisor is to coordinate with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to authorize the camp attack. The president refuses this, citing the fact that he is supposed to be "dead" at that moment, as well as how America can harness the sympathy of the world given the circumstances. At that moment, the explosion in the distance heard before is revealed to be a suicide bomber in the lobby of his hotel. Seconds later, a masked assailant bursts into the room and kills his guards and advisors, ending the president's scene.

The terrorist plan

The final perspective is that of the terrorists orchestrating the attack. The assassination attempt on the double is revealed to be an elaborate ruse, done by remote control via an automated rifle. The rifle had been placed by Secret Service agent Taylor, who had been spotted on the live feed by Barnes as he was leaving the scene in a Spanish policeman's uniform, clearly lying to Barnes who he was talking to on his cellphone. Meanwhile, Javier (Edgar Ramirez), the assassin who has made his way into President Ashton's room (and who is working for the terrorists only because his brother is being held hostage), leads Ashton to the elevator, where Ashton is knocked unconscious and quietly loaded onto an ambulance. Javier joins Taylor, with both followed by Barnes.

At the underpass, Enrique confronts Javier and Taylor, only to be shot by Javier. Javier is in turn shot by Barnes, and finished off by Taylor after being coldly informed of his brother's murder. Taylor crashes his car while attempting to escape from Barnes, and is fatally injured. At the same time, Ashton awakens in the ambulance and tries to take out his captors, distracting them as the little girl walks in front of the ambulance. The driver swerves and flips the ambulance just as Lewis gets the girl out of harms way. The terrorist who survived the crash tries to shoot them, but Barnes kills him. Ashton is then rescued by Barnes.

This elaborate plot is never revealed to the public, who are told that a lone assassin was shot and killed.

Cast

(The eight points of view in bold text)^[2]

• Dennis Quaid as Thomas Barnes: Veteran member of the POTUS Secret Service security detail during the summit. Previously took a bullet for the President. He is the main protagonist.
• Matthew Fox as Kent Taylor: Secret Service agent on his first mission as part of the POTUS security detail during the summit and Barnes' partner. It is revealed that he is working for the terrorists as well.
• Forest Whitaker as Howard Lewis: American businessman on vacation in Spain. He is touring Spain and happens to be at the summit.
• Edgar Ramirez as Javier: Former special forces soldier who was coerced into assisting the terrorists, dies after being shot by Kent Taylor.
• Saïd Taghmaoui as Sam / Suarez: Terrorist leading the assassination attempt on the President.
• Sigourney Weaver as Rex Brooks: Producer of the Global Network News team that is covering the summit.
• William Hurt as President Henry Ashton and his body double.
• Eduardo Noriega as Enrique: Undercover policeman deceived by Veronica and Suarez; dies after being shot multiple times by Javier.
• Bruce McGill as Phil McCullough: An advisor to President Ashton.
• Ayelet Zurer as Veronica: Terrorist masquerading as a local paramedic; Enrique's girlfriend.
• Zoe Saldana as Angie Jones: News reporter covering the summit as part of the Global Network News team who dies when the second bomb goes off.^[3]
• Richard T. Jones as Holden: Member of the Secret Service security detail during the summit.