Directed by Clark Johnson
Written by George Nolfi (screenplay); Gerald Petievich (novel)
Starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Kim Basinger
Genre: Crime / Drama / Thriller
Country: USA
Runtime: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG: Not recommended for children

Evaluation: 7/10
by Greg Ferguson







When a nation's security is breached and a credible threat against its leader exists, the most immediate impulse is to attack the problem of how such a thing could have happened rather than why, and few entities in North America are perhaps more synonymous with this brand of swift and efficient recourse than the US Secret Service. In The Sentinel, director Clark Johnson presents us with a glimpse into their lives and procedures as they operate within the small window of opportunity between the first signs of danger and the finality of an impending attempt to assassinate the president. For its duration, the film is a gradual unspooling of threads that routinely but effectively builds suspense by faithfully preserving the sort of hectic pursuit of leads and suspects heightened by the elevated urgency of a national crisis. With little time or incentive to explore the motivations of the killers and their co-conspirators, the result is a frequently kinetic feature whose first priority, like that of its federal agents, is the bottom line. Realistically, that'd be all the payoff necessary; cinematically and dramatically, however, such bare-bones storytelling, while reasonably thrilling on the first go, is ultimately empty entertainment of limited endurance.

The action centres around veteran agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), a man who once took a bullet for Reagan but has since been passed over for important promotions and is presently romancing the First Lady (Kim Basinger) in secret. Because of this indiscretion, his allegiance to his country is called into question, especially after it is revealed that there is a mole within the Service involved in a plot against the president. Garrison is eventually fingered as the turncoat by David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), the uncompromisingly inflexible agent leading the investigation, and uses his years of extensive experience to elude capture. Complicating matters is the fact that Breckinridge happens to be Garrison's one-time apprentice and friend, having since become embittered after an alleged affair between him and his wife. Tense encounters are shared as their professional facades buckle and we wonder whether either party in this in-house conflict has anything to do with the whole grand scheme - a suspicion supported by the appearance of rookie agent Jill Marin (Eva Longoria), newly recommended by Garrison but assigned to duty with Breckinridge in the field.

Though The Sentinel appears to be a vehicle for Douglas, popular for his roles as self-importat power seekers, many will likely - and rightly - associate the film with Sutherland and his portrayal of super-agent Jack Bauer on the Fox anti-terrorism drama 24. For all intents and purposes, it could be considered a dress-rehearsal for the eventual feature-length film version of the show, and indeed at one point it was rumoured that the casting of Sutherland as a steely and gritty Jack-alike was meant to test the waters for one (thankfully, no such rumour exists for Longoria and her Desperate Housewives coven). As a devoted fan of 24's tightly-paced stories rich in action and emotion, my expectations were high and I anticipated something on a grander scale. Unfortunately, the film felt like the show stripped down to its barest minimum, lacking ambition and depth by comparison. Coming from director Johnson, who only recently shifted from work in television to cinema with 2003's S.W.A.T., I figured he might relish the chance to step beyond the scope of the average primetime network humdrum and embrace a more brazen style of filmmaking. Not so.

Chastising the film for not being like 24, though, is rather unfair considering it's still a top-shelf jolt to our systems even at its weakest. The Sentinel, while simple and straightforward, isn't a bad film at all and will likely only disappoint those whose hopes hinge upon exceptionally sophisticated fare. Nevertheless, to the producers of 24: The Movie there is one lesson to be learned: keep Clark Johnson away from the director's chair.

(The Sentinel is currently playing at the Empire 8, Trinity Drive cinema, located at 125 Trinity Drive in Moncton.)