by Missy Thompson

STAFF WRITER

It is an extreme annoyance when a movie's trailer makes the film out to be a wonderful piece of cinematic beauty, then after sitting in the theater for an hour and a half, you realize the trailer was completely misleading.

This was the case with the new thriller "Vantage Point." On the surface, the film seems intriguing. It tells the story of the assassination of the United States president through five different perspectives. After the third flashback, however, this plot becomes convoluted and contrived.

Director Pete Travis is making his feature film debut after directing television movies and mini-series. Travis took on a huge project for his first film with an all-star cast. However, the problem with "Vantage Point" comes from the writing, by newcomer Barry Levy, as well as the directing. The acting by the cast is not that bad, but unfortunately, they cannot help a horrendous script.

That all being said, "Vantage Point" does have its strengths. It plays up to mass audiences who will be engrossed by the distinct filming style and by putting the pieces of the story together. This could have been a good movie if Travis had backed away from the awful flashbacks and puzzling plotline.

"Vantage Point" tells the story of the attempted assassination of President Ashton (William Hurt) during an anti-terrorist summit in Spain. The first point of view comes from the perspective of television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) and field reporter Angie Jones (Zoe Saldana). They witness the president being shot just after taking the stage in front of a large crowd, and then two explosions.

In the second flashback, body guard/agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid) is back on duty after taking a bullet to protect the president's life six months earlier. After the president is shot, he tackles a man whom he believes is the shooter. Then, after the second bomb explodes, he runs toward the TV news van where Rex is stationed and requests to see their tapes -- the outcome of which is a great shock.

The third, fourth and fifth perspectives are told by Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), an American tourist who videotapes the event, Javier (Edgar Rodriguez), a local who gets sucked into the plot scheme, and Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) a local police officer whose job is to protect the mayor. Eventually the flashbacks stop and the rest of the storyline begins to unravel.

It is not until after the different perspective situations end that "Vantage Point" really starts to pick up. With car chases and violence, the rest of the film clips right along. This movie feels a lot like "Crash" from 2005. The same event happens to everyone in some fashion, and then by the end of the film they all end up back in the same place. However, "Crash" did it better.

"Vantage Point" is at least fast-paced and there are enough action-packed sequences to keep audiences entertained. But this does not make the film any better. The overwhelmingly bad script sucks all the life out of "Vantage Point."

missy@tooeletranscript.com

Grade: C-

Rated: PG-13

Time: 90 minutes

Opens Friday