Right when things start to get interesting, the film rewinds and we see everything all over again, this time from the perspective of a secret service agent (Dennis Quaid) who�s back on the job after taking a bullet for the commander-in-chief a year before. Then the film rewinds once more and we see the exact same sequence of events through the eyes of a camcorder-wielding tourist (Forrest Whittaker). Rewind again. Now the event as experienced by the President. Rewind again. Now as seen by a Spanish cop. Rewind again�

Now I know how Bill Murray felt in Groundhog Day.

Vantage Point seemingly has a cool premise, but it�s undone by one very fatal flaw: the story, as written here, isn�t interesting enough to tell once, much less six times. Every time the film started rewinding, I groaned in agony. Yes, you get a little more information with each new telling, but you also have the frustration of never being able to fully become involved with the story because you know it�s just going to be interrupted again before long.

Maybe that would have been okay had the conspiracy made any sense. Which it doesn�t. There�s some business about the kidnapped brother of a terrorist, and anti-terrorism legislation the president is supporting, and a mystery woman straddling the line between the terrorists and the Spanish cop. I couldn�t make heads or tails of it, even after all the viewpoints had been revealed.

Compounding the problem is Vantage Point�s willingness to cheat. In its desire to pull the rug out from under us, there are two utterly preposterous plot twists. One is blatantly revealed in the film�s advertising (but I won�t spoil it here). The other is that oldest of clich�s: the �surprise� bad guy. It�s perfectly reasonable to ask why this character is involved in an assassination plot. It�s equally reasonable to wonder how this person could be connected to terrorists.

As far as the movie is concerned, you can shove your questions. It has a climactic car chase to stage! And there�s nothing like a good old-fashioned car chase to distract the audience from the fact that your plot has more holes than Swiss cheese. Unfortunately, even the chase feels sub-par. It goes for some of that Bourne vibe, but comes up staggeringly short.

What a waste of an A-list cast. Forrest Whitaker is particularly lost here. He runs around with a video camera, makes empathetic faces at a little girl who is trapped amidst the chaos, and participates in one of the silliest damsel-in-distress scenes to hit the big screen in years. Perhaps he can take comfort knowing that Quaid, Weaver, and Hurt are all stuck in this leaky boat with him.

I�m not going to waste any more time analyzing Vantage Point. What should have been an innovative thriller is instead a complete mess � a bad idea, poorly executed. At least, that�s how I see it from my vantage point.

( out of four)

Vantage Point is rated R for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language. The running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.