Still Playing

Sun, 03/30/2008 10:59 AM | Entertainment

30 Days of Night (Horror, 113 minutes. Josh Harnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston. Written by Steve Niles, Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson, based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. Directed by David Slade. In English with Indonesian subtitles. Playing at Blitz Megaplex)

In a classic horror set-up the residents of a tiny Alaskan town are settling in for their annual month without sunlight when they realize that all communication to the outside world has been cut. Mysterious strangers are spotted -- oh dear, a vampire picnic is about to begin* The film's strength is its visual style, with eerie buildings almost lost in the mist and blood staining the snow as victims are picked off one by one. Yet most of the scares are visceral rather than psychological and, while there's plenty of gore, there's not a lot of the paralyzing tension you might expect. A strong ending goes some way toward mitigating these shortcomings. *** (out of *****)

Vantage Point (Action/Thriller, 90 minutes. Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver. Written by Barry Levy. Directed by Pete Travis.In English with Indonesian subtitles. Playing at 21 Cineplex and Blitz Megaplex)

Quaid plays Barnes, a secret service agent charged with protecting the president during an anti-terrorism summit in Spain. When the president is assassinated it's up to Barnes and his partner (Fox) to find the shooter. Meanwhile an American tourist with a handycam (Whitaker), a news producer (Weaver), and a Spanish police officer (Eduardo Noriega), each have an important role to play in unraveling what's going on. Billed as a Rashamon-style narrative, Vantage Point is less a meditation on the nature of truth as it is just an old-fashioned detective story told in an unusual way. Quaid and Fox are front and center in very dull roles, while Weaver is wasted in a virtual cameo. The car chases are impressive, the pace is frenetic, but there's not much left to think about at the end. ** (out of *****)

-- Briony Kidd

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