Vantage Point Blu-ray: Hands-on with some funky interactivity

We'll say this at the outset: Vantage Point on Blu-ray is best played on a PS3. Our test player, the Sony BDP-S500, really wasn't up to the job at all, mainly because it doesn't support profile 1.1 or above. That means no picture-in-picture video, which is one of the key aspects of this Blu-ray disc.

If you haven't heard of Vantage Point then allow us to fill you in on the concept. The movie is shot from the perspective of a number of different people present at an assassination attempt at a terror summit in Spain. You get to see the events play out from the 'vantage point' of a number of different people, including a TV news director (Sigourney Weaver), an American tourist (Forest Whitaker), plus secret service agents Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox).

The key interactive feature of the Blu-ray is the inclusion of a 'GPS tracker', which lets you see where all of the main characters are at any one time. The GPS feature also includes picture-in-picture video of other events happening at the same time, which helps the whole thing feel more 'real'.

This disc also has an director audio commentary, three featurettes about the making of the movie and the usual trailers for upcoming releases (although we'd suggest that advertising doesn't really count as a 'feature'). Bizarrely, there is also something called 'surveillance tapes' which is actually an outtake of the director making a cameo that didn't make it into the final film. It's quite an odd addition.

The movie itself is presented in glorious 1080p and we have to say, the picture quality is utterly stunning. We tested it on our Panasonic 1080p plasma and had a tough time dragging ourselves back to work. The sound quality is also excellent with crisp dialogue. This film definitely demonstrates how amazing Blu-ray can look when care and attention have been lavished on its creation.

The film may have received mixed reviews, getting a Metacritic score of 40, but it’s not without its share of decent reviews too, and everyone seems to agree that it's a decent popcorn flick.

But more importantly for us Cravers, it really shows off what the Blu-ray format is capable of, and is an excellent movie to show off your system to any high-def doubters out there.

Take a look at this Blu-ray trailer that shows how the interactive GPS feature works. We can't guarantee this is spoiler-free however, so watch with caution.-Ian Morris