At a meeting between Muslim and western countries in Salamanca, Spain the president of the United States is shot by an assassin. Secret service agent Thomas Barnes seeks to requisition all the available footage from a TV producer, her news crew and a tourist. When seen from all the available perspectives, it appears that all is not as it seems. What do the assassins want? Is the president really alive? What is the truth?

The way Travis shoots action is also problematic. There are a couple of key chase sequences in the story (one on foot and one in cars) the director chooses to shoot handheld. It might add immediacy to the scenes, but it makes it very difficult to see what's going on. In conjunction with the choppy editing it makes the sequences underwhelming. You could have the best stunt drivers in the world, but there's no point if you can't see what they're doing - it sucks the tension from the action. The director does better when shooting the human cost of the events, such as the aftermath of an explosion that is shot in grainy greys with the sound fading in and out as though there's ringing in your ears. It is reminiscent of his heartfelt work in TV movie "Omagh". However he falls into cliché by overlaying scenes of the dead and dying with short flashbacks of recent events for Barnes and close-ups of his eyes that signal that these are his thoughts. It's a hackneyed device that drains the emotion from the scene. It doesn't help that there are so many reaction shots of Dennis Quaid throughout the film as he has one of the most impassive faces I've ever seen, so you have no idea what he's thinking or how what he sees affects him. It looks like Pete Travis needs to think bigger if he's going to have a successful career in cinema.

It's a shame Dennis Quaid is the main focus of the action as Thomas Barnes because he has very little going for him. His face is a fixed frown throughout that makes him look constipated most of the time. He may be in good shape for his age, but doesn't have the presence or skills to convince as bodyguard to the president. His characterisation is too simplistic, making him a bare-bones faithful and true archetype. So simply following the guidelines set down in the script makes him implausibly indestructible.

The original music by Atli Örvarsson, like the rest of the film, is plagued by repetition. The main culprit is a string refrain with piano undertones and brushed cymbal that crops up every time a new piece of the puzzle drops into place. But there is the sense that you've heard everything before because of his generic thriller arrangements that are usually two parts strings to one part percussion. There are the obvious sad strings when people die and just in case you hadn't twigged that the bad guys are somehow connected to middle-eastern terrorists, there are Arabic pipes to remind you. In fact the only moment of originality in the score comes in Örvarsson's use of electronic music in an attack on a hotel. Otherwise it's rather bland and lazy.