Despite its hyperkinetic visual style, "Vantage Point" is a political thriller that doesn't deliver enough real thrills. There's lots of action but not a lot of acting even with several A-list actors on hand. The fault lies mostly with the script by Barry L. Levy. The characters aren't allowed to fill out: they function mainly as parts of a runaway action machine.

The action takes place in Salamanca Spain where a summit on terrorism is about to take place. William Hurt plays the President of the United States (referred to mostly by the acronym POTUS throughout the movie.). During an appearance in a crowded plaza, the president's shot and bombs go off creating panic among the spectators and chaos among the people assigned to protect the president.

We first see this event through the cameras of a news network filming the president's appearance. Sigourney Weaver plays a news producer orchestrating the coverage and hers is the first of many points of view.

Director Peter Travis tells the story through the eyes of several bystanders and participants. After one character advances the story, he rewinds the film to a point prior to the assassination and begins all over again with another character's viewpoint. Such a gimmick finally becomes annoying. There's too much repetition and rewinding for the movie's own good.

Among the characters who advance the plot are a secret service agent played by Dennis Quaid, an American tourist who videotapes the event played by Forest Whitaker, the president himself, a couple of terrorists, and a little girl who finds herself in harm's way.

Travis undoubtedly has a knack for flashy directing. But in this case that doesn't compensate for a belief-defying plot that becomes increasingly ridiculous as the action mounts. Nor does it compensate for the squandering of good actors in roles of convenience. The stars don't get a chance to shine and the lesser-knowns fare no better. All too often, the villains in this kind of movie are one-dimensional and this is no exception.