* * * 1/2

Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, Eduardo Noriega, Said Taghmaoui, Edgar Ramirez, Zoe Saldana. Written by Barry Levy. Directed by Pete Travis. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes. Sony Pictures.

A global terror summit in Salamanca, Spain sets the stage for the public assassination of the American president in Vantage Point, a most entertaining new thriller ripped from the headlines and coasting on a wave of timely war-on-terror sentiment for a breathless 90 minutes. This is one rip-roaring ride, shot with such style by cinematographer Amir Mokri, and directed by Pete Travis with such a fine sense of pace and scale, its implausibilities are of no matter. Sit down, sit back and you will be riveted.

Economically written and efficiently directed, Vantage Point wastes no time setting up its premise. Flanked by two dutiful Secret Service agents (Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox), President Ashton (William Hurt), a polarizing international figure set to deliver an internationally televised public address in a crowded town square, is shot and killed on live TV while a remote cable news crew led by a hard-as-nails producer (Sigourney Weaver) catches the incident—and two subsequent bombings taking the life of her star reporter (Zoe Saldana)—on tape.

Along for the ride is an American tourist (Forest Whitaker) who believes he has captured the shooter on his camcorder, inserting himself into the intrigue. The incident plays out several times, from multiple perspectives in a Rashomon-styled story structure that reveals a serpentine network of terrorism.

The hunt for the culprits ensnares members a terrorist faction seeking revenge for the recent thwarting of a maneuver perceived as an American transgression. There’s a terrific cast of international actors going for broke here, including Eduardo Noriega as a potentially dirty cop, charismatic Said Taghmaoui as a terrorist ringleader and a powerful Edgar Ramirez as an unstoppable assassin manipulated by the faction. A corrupt paramedic (Ayelet Zurer) is also in on the action, as is a hotel bellboy turned suicide bomber.

The film rewinds its 23-minute opener about six times, and each new take reveals a different perspective and re-evaluation of what we thought we knew. If it all begins to feel like a storytelling stunt about midway, it comes back to life impressively once the action begins to move in real-time, with a deliriously exciting car chase that is simply smashing action moviemaking, and director Pete Travis puts the pedal to the floor so you don’t have time to stop and consider implausibilities, and why should you?

Don’t look for deep characterizations in Vantage Point. In a compact running time, the film sweeps several desperate characters into a breathless maelstrom of double-crosses that reveal an intricate web of terrorists assembling a dizzying puzzle of shifting alliances. Bottom line? Vantage Point is a real thrill, and a throwback to the paranoid conspiracy flicks of the 70s. If it’s not profound, it is certainly pulse-racing.

Recommended.

-Lee Shoquist