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If someone remade "Rashomon" with "Bourne" sensibilities, it might look something like "Vantage Point."

A political thriller rooted in today's terrorism-wary consciousness, "Vantage Point" could be the conspiracy-theory movie to end all conspiracy-theory movies. There are plenty of potential villains around, and there's more than one crime on the agenda.

U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt) arrives in Salamanca, Spain, for an anti-terrorism summit with other world leaders. An excited crowd fills the city's historic Plaza Mayor. Security officers are everywhere, as are news cameras.

One of the Secret Service agents protecting Ashton is Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), a veteran who took a bullet for the president in the recent past. Indeed, some might think it's too soon for Barnes to be back on duty, but agent in charge Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) doesn't want to write Barnes off.

Barnes is on a stage a few feet from the president when shots ring out and Ashton is felled. Within seconds, the plaza is in chaos.

As Ashton is rushed away for treatment, Barnes desperately looks for a way to find the shooter. Then a bomb goes off, creating more panic.

Before the story can advance much further, the film stops and rewinds to the starting time, only to proceed from the perspective of another character, repeating the process several more times until the stories converge in an adrenaline rush of a climax that solves most of the puzzle.

The fun of the movie is watching the pieces come together, so it wouldn't be right to say much more about the plot or the characters.

Quaid, the film's heart, milks the doubt of whether Barnes is fit for duty. Forest Whitaker is fine as a fatherly American tourist.

Hurt is presidential and more. Sigourney Weaver puts in a brief appearance as a hard-edged TV news producer. Zoe Saldana scores feisty points as a skeptical reporter.

Venezuelan Edgar Ramirez, Frenchman Said Taghmaoui, Israeli Ayelet Zurer and Spaniard Eduardo Noriega add credibility to the film's international intrigue.

Screenwriter Barry Levy's script is like a magic act, manipulating viewers to see things a certain way before twisting characters and their motivations around in the next segment. It's a nifty device that's addictive without being frustrating.

As it evolves, "Vantage Point" becomes more than a pat depiction of assassination attempts and disdain for the U.S. government. It's about morals and blackmail, power and censorship.

Yet director Pete Travis doesn't let any big ideas get in the way of the action, and he seasons the intensity with the lightest sprinkling of character development.

There's time enough to think when the movie is over.

"Vantage Point" is a thrill-ride reminder that things are not always what they seem.