Sometimes all you’re looking for at the movie theater is a ripping good yarn, which is precisely what “Vantage Point” delivers.

Casting prime-time television castaway Matthew Fox is appropriate, since labyrinthine thrillers like “Lost” (and, to a lesser extent, “24”) have conditioned audiences to absorb new characters and download backstories on the fly. You’ll need that skill for “Point,” which recounts an assassination attempt from various viewpoints and alters our perspective as it unfurls.

Here’s what we think we know. U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt), while attending an antiterrorism summit in Spain, takes two bullets to the chest. Secret -Service agents, led by Fox and Dennis Quaid, scramble to secure the fallen world leader and scour the scattering crowd for clues. Before they get their bearings, however, an explosion rocks the open-air court that housed the gathering and escalates the situation from mild melee to outright chaos.

Pay attention, but don’t worry if you miss a detail or two because “Point” will show you the assassination and ensuing bomb blasts from eight different perspectives. We follow an American tourist (Forest Whitaker) whose handheld video camera might have recorded terrorist activity. We learn more about Thomas Barnes (Quaid), a veteran Secret Service agent who already took a bullet for Ashton during a previous assassination attempt and hasn’t quite readjusted to being back on the presidential beat. We wonder if the Spanish man (Edgar Ramirez) claiming to be a cop is telling the truth or covering up a larger plot. To its credit, “Point” careers to a bombastic conclusion right before the rewinding device grows tiresome.

A couple of feature-film first-times keep “Point” on its fast track. Screenwriter Barry Levy builds a big-picture story that plays off current international fears (and anti-American hostilities) without overdosing on political psychobabble. He also includes the right amount of personal drama for our supporting characters so we’re interested to see how it factors into the larger puzzle.

Director Pete Travis – not to be confused with hackneyed “Rolling Stone” film critic Peter Travers – follows his writer’s lead, -striking a balance between intelligent drama and full-blown crowd-pleaser. Whitaker keeps pace for a riveting foot race with escaping terrorists. Later, a rousing car chase takes its cues from the “Bourne” franchise to place us in the passenger’s seat next to Quaid as he races through downtown Salamenca. There’s action aplenty, but Oscar winners (Whitaker, Hurt) and nominees (Sigourney Weaver) populating the ensemble don’t have to feel as if they’re slumming for the combat paycheck. This thriller peppers its real-time terror plot with contemporary political commentary, but not enough to distract from its main goal of simply -entertaining.