President Ashton is in Spain to talk tough on terror, and Rex Brooks (Weaver) and her TV news crew are there to cover the event for the folks back home.

Aside from a local cameraman pointing the wrong way and reporter Angie (Zoe Saldana) straying off script, it’s a routine gig. But hey – isn’t that Tom Barnes (Quaid), the Secret Service hero who saved Ashton’s life last year?

Still, all eyes are on the president… Oh my god! He’s been shot! Angie, what’s happening? Oh my god! Was that an explosion? Angie? Angie!

Rewind 23 minutes and we’re with Tom Barnes as he prepares to shepherd Ashton to his public address. He’s twitchy about being back on the job so soon after taking a bullet for the boss, but fellow bodyguard Taylor (Fox) has got his back.

Unfortunately neither of them sees what’s coming… and with a bang-bang-kaboom we’re back at high noon with American tourist Howard Lewis (Whitaker) who’s busily camcording everything from fluttering curtains to dodgy locals.

Stop. Rewind. 3…2…1… now here’s Spanish cop Javier (The Bourne Ultimatum’s Edgar Ramirez), acting strangely and wondering what his girlfriend is doing with that shifty-looking stranger.

Noon again and we’re following events through Ashton’s eyes. Then we see it all from the angle of the perpetrator (or perpetrators). Bit by bit, the jigsaw comes together.

And, bit by bit, it also falls apart as Manchester-born director Pete Travis (of acclaimed IRA drama Omagh) and first-time screenwriter Barry L. Levy bury an intriguing set-up beneath an avalanche of preposterous coincidences, conveniences and contrivances.

This is one of those movies where a little girl and a fat guy can reach the same location on foot as two speeding vehicles, where a news team in a van in a foreign country can bring up the right piece of archive footage in seconds, and where terrorists start putting value on human life mere minutes after blowing up scores of innocents.

Yet as daft as it all becomes, Vantage Point is never dull. Approach it like a double-bill of 24 and there’s enough excitement to overcome the clichés, particularly during the climactic car chase.

The multiple-viewpoint gimmick is also nicely executed. After setting the bar with 1950’s Rashomon, Akira Kurasawa has a lot to answer for. But thankfully this is closer to Courage Under Fire than Basic.

So - perfect fodder for a Friday night or intelligence-insulting twaddle? It all depends how you look at it.

Elliott Noble