courtesy of Sony Pictures Secret service agents Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox, left), Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid, center right), and Holden (Richard T. Jones, right) protect U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt, center left).

What happens when you put a first-time director, a sloppy advertising campaign and an all-star cast together? "Vantage Point," that's what. It's a fascinating look into how modern technology has led to disconnected lives and the consequences thereof. Unluckily, it's almost undone by one of the very things that make it unique.

The way the film tells the story is paradoxically both a strength and weakness. It begins with a journalist named Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) in a reporter's room monitoring one of the biggest summits in memory, with the President of the United States, President Ashton (William Hurt), about to forge a groundbreaking alliance with Middle Eastern leaders in Salamanca, Spain. Before anything can really happen, though, the president is shot and chaos ensues.

The film rewinds 23 minutes and enters the perspective of another person: secret service agent Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), who took a bullet for the president months before and has been recovering both physically and psychologically ever since. He's accompanied by his partner, Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), and we follow their perspective for a while.

Then we rewind again and switch to another point of view. Then another. And again. And again. And again.

The film resets to noon every time it offers a fresh perception on the situation, but unfortunately this gets tedious after the third or fourth time. It's unfortunate that this technique doesn't work as well as the filmmakers would like it to.

Each time it goes back, audiences are offered an entirely different perspective on the situation, and it's kind of fun to try to figure out how all of them are interconnected. It challenges viewers to look for all the details in the shot and recall back to other viewpoints to figure out what it's going to do next.

From the trailers, though, it seems like it's going to offer insight into the way people's lives interconnect, in the vein of "Crash" and "Babel." But the editing methods make it seem like a bit of a cop-out. It would have been more challenging if the filmmakers had tried to weave the stories like a tapestry, with each thread distinct from the others. Instead, they build it like a tower of Lego blocks where each piece is big, clunky and too easily seen.

If a more compact and efficient way had been found to make this technique work, it would have been enjoyable rather than a bit of a chore. Audience members won't be able to help feeling a little bit exasperated every time they're basically forced back to the beginning.

It's also a bummer that the advertising executives had to go and flub one of the biggest reveals of the movie in the trailer.

One thing that makes it consistently watchable, though, is the top-notch cast. Nearly every other face here is a superstar.

Matthew Fox of "Lost" as Barnes's partner is effortlessly charismatic.

William Hurt as the President brings the perfect amount of gravitas to his role.

Forest Whitaker is brilliant as an unassuming tourist caught in the middle of it all.

Sigourney Weaver as the hard-hitting reporter, though she ends up being little more than a cameo, is pretty entertaining.

Dennis Quaid as Barnes, the fallen agent who must deal with the guilt of not having protected the president this time around, sometimes takes himself a little too seriously, but he does his character justice. It's also a blessing that he's a likeable guy, as the movie's plot rests mostly on his shoulders.

The action in the film is somewhat diluted because of the flashback technique, but in the final 15 minutes, there's a car chase throughout the city that's riveting, tense and incredibly well-edited. It's the best part of the entire movie, partly due to the fact that the audience knows they won't have to sit through it five or six more times.

While "Vantage Point" is a bit of a disappointment and its attempts at being an intelligent thriller aren't entirely unsuccessful, it does offer some biting commentary into how the electronic devices we use, such as cameras and cell phones, disconnect society, making us need something like a bomb going off to bring us together. It is regrettable that the sloppy handling of the "vantage point" technique almost undoes what could have been a carefree and viscerally enjoyable hour and a half, but that doesn't mean it's not worth seeing.

If you can get past watching the same event transpire about six times, it'll be an entertaining ride.

Plot: B-
Acting: A-
Action: B
Overall: B-