'Point' goes missing in instant-replay thriller.(Movie review)

VANTAGE POINT

Sony

Directed by Pete Travis Starring: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker

Can an implausible set-piece offer up fresh thrills and insights if replayed ad infinitum from different perspectives? Not according to "Vantage Point," a 23-minute movie dragged out, via some narrative gimmickry, to a punishing hour and a half. Circling endlessly around a political assassination attempt and its violently contrived aftermath, the film proves every bit as crude, nerve-grinding and finally unsalvageable as the car accidents it keeps inflicting on its characters. Originally slated for a 2007 release, Sony holdover is unlikely to stop traffic around multiplexes de spite its attention-getting cast, especially when poor word of mouth takes hold.

Pie is set entirely in and around a plaza in the Spanish town of Salamanca, where leaders are gathering for an international summit …