February 21, 2008, - 2:56 pm
Good to Be Wrong – “Vantage Point”: FINALLY, a Movie with Accurate Terrorists – Muslims are Unsympathetic Terrorists in Great Dennis Quaid Flick
By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ***
Mazel Tov [Congrats], America. Hollywood is finally giving us true terrorists who are unsympathetic. Hollywood is finally giving us good guys who are good and bad guys who are Islamic terrorists without an excuse or any redeeming value.
In “Vantage Point,” out Friday, the terrorists are Islamic, and they are evil, cold-blooded killers. I like (almost) any movie that stars the sexy and talented Dennis Quaid (except the two he did with global warming and counter-counter-terrorist agendas), but this movie has the complete package. Finally, Hollywood is giving us “truth-in-terrorism.” And it’s an exciting thriller.
Boy was I ever wrong about “Vantage Point.” And boy am I glad I was. As readers will recall, I wrote on this site that the trailer for this movie made it look like this was, yet again, another movie in which Muslims were not actually the terrorists, but good and victimized people mistaken for terrorists–yet another movie in which the Westerners are the bad guys.
But it was the exact opposite. The President (William Hurt) and the U.S. Secret Service Agent (Quaid) who is the hero in this movie are, without reservation, the good guys. The terrorists are Muslim and they are the bad guys. There is nothing presented in this movie to justify the mass carnage they produce.
FINALLY.
While the presentation that the terrorists are Muslim is somewhat subtle (the hotel locker of a homicide bomber is opened to show us his wife in a hijab–CAIR will love that!) and we are told at the beginning that they are a Moroccan terrorist group, it’s quite obvious who they are. And the head terrorist is played by a real-life Arab Muslim.
The plot: The President is in Spain with world leaders at a counterterrorism summit. They are there to announce a new initiative against terrorism. The President’s veteran Secret Service agent (Dennis Quaid) who took two bullets for him and saved his life, is finally rehabilitated and returns to the President’s Protective Detail for the first time. He is a little unsure.
He sees what he thinks is a man in a window at the event where he is guarding the President. Suddenly, the President is shot. But who did it? That depends on your vantage point. We watch as Secret Service agents led by Quaid chase after suspects and watch video through exciting chases and action.
There are a lot of cool twists in this movie, which I can’t disclose because I don’t want to spoil it. But lets just say this, I wrote a column against the Arab Secret Service agent who caused problems on a plane just after 9/11. He’d been picked through Bush’s “Islam is Peace” affirmative action program to serve on his detail. I warned about that. That’s not what happens in this film. But after you see the movie, you will know what I’m talking about, and why it’s a concern.
At first, you will probably find “Vantage Point” annoying. We see the exact same several minutes played over and over several times from the vantage point of each of the characters. That part is like “Groundhog Day,” and it’s really annoying. People at the screening heard me ask, “Where’s Bill Murray?” and laughed. Yes, at first, this movie is slow and boring and seems repetitive. But it quickly picks up and turns into a great movie after all. Definitely worth seeing. I liked it a lot.
This is vintage Quaid. He is hot, sharp, and heroic in this flick–although there is a chase scene that is kind of unbelievable. And it’s hard to see anyone–let alone a guy in his fifties–withstand so many bombings and crashes and still walk away so easily.
But I like Quaid. He’s a great actor, and somewhat of a relative conservative in Hollywood. The native Texan told USA Today that he’s torn between voting for John McCain and Barack Hussein Obama (while most of Hollywood is solidly pro-Obama). And in 2003, in an appearance on “The View,” he defended Augusta National’s all-male membership against Martha Burk’s protests. I’ve met him (my friend Tom is the drummer for his band, “Dennis Quaid & The Sharks), and he’s a great singer, piano player, songwriter, avid golfer, and a nice guy (if a bit on the manorexically-thin side).
Definitely go see this heart-pounding thriller. It’s good. Here’s the trailer:
**** UPDATE: The one really inaccurate part of this movie is at the beginning, in which the producer of GNN (the CNN proxy in this movie) news coverage of the counterterrorism conference gets mad, when her reporter tries to insert leftist spin about those who hate America and why we deserve terrorist attacks. Like they ever get upset about that!–as we know, they encourage it. In this movie, the producer censors it out. Yeah, right.
Tags: America, Arab Secret Service, avid golfer, Barack Hussein Obama, Bill Murray, Bush's "Islam, By Debbie Schlussel, CNN, Dennis Quaid, drummer, FINALLY, great actor, great singer, Groundhog Day, head terrorist, John McCain, Martha Burk, piano player, President, producer, reporter, Secret Service, songwriter, Spain, Texan, Tom, USA Today, Vantage Point, William Hurt
What? This is not muslim apologist propoganda? I can’t wait to see it.
Of course, it will probably get panned by critics, for not being “gray” enough. Thats why they loved Munich. I tell you, films are obsessed with “shades of gray” that it seems like evil doesnt exist in this world.
Well, Im glad its good, and hope it wont be the only exception from Hollywood.
d2eux on February 21, 2008 at 7:52 pm