Star rating: **
Dir: Pete Travis
With: Forest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt
Dennis Quaid might have a few years on Jack Bauer, but he does his best to pass for the 24 superhero in this slick but empty-headed thriller. William Hurt plays a US president who ventures to old Europe to sign an anti-terror treaty, only to find himself the target of an assassination bid. What follows is a Rashomon-style reworking of the crucial minutes from the perspectives of a tourist (Forest Whitaker), the president, and various others. Though the action barrels along, the dialogue is mildly idiotic and the story itself is eye-wateringly contrived. Why any secret service worthy of the name would allow the leader of the free world to take part in a ceremony in a courtyard with hundreds of windows on all sides was clearly not a notion that troubled writer Barry Levy for long. Wasn't the world capital of grassy knolls available?
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