The Sentinel

If The Sentinel was a made for TV movie nestled safely in the line up of the USA or TBS network, it'd probably be right at home. Unfortunately for director Clark Johnson (2003's S.W.A.T. remake), it's on the big screen and somehow has round up a big name cast, including Michael Douglas in his first leading role in three years. Based on the novel by Gerald Petievich, The Sentinel just does not pack enough thrills to completely hold our interest or make us ignore the various lapses of logic and unexplained plot developments that keep on popping up. The fact that Johnson's direction is flat and uninspired only rams the point home that this story belongs on the small screen. Though far from terrible, the film just doesn't have what it takes to live up to the talent of its own stars.

Secret Service Agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is currently employed by the current President of the United States (David Rasche) while secretly having an affair with the First Lady, Sarah Ballentine (Kim Basinger). Pete learns some troubling news when one of his informants tips him off that there is a Mole within the Secret Service who is plotting to assassinate the President, and a friend of his on the force has already wound up dead for supposedly knowing too much. He spearheads the investigation into his own Agency which leads to each Secret Service officer being forced to take a polygraph test. Because of his desire to keep his affair with the First Lady secret, Pete ends up failing the test, and makes him a prime suspect. Two Agents are placed into the investigation - veteran David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) and his rookie partner Jill Marin (Eva Longoria from TV's Desperate Housewives). Pete and David already have a rough background with each other, so the fact that Pete is now the head suspect makes David relentless to prove his personal rival is the guilty party. Knowing that he is actually innocent, Pete is forced to turn against the Agency and go on the run, hoping to learn the truth behind the Mole's identity before he is caught.

Any ambitions The Sentinel may have had about being a fast-paced and tense political thriller are all but shot down when you realize just how leisurely paced the film is. It takes a good half hour or so of set up before the plot to assassinate the President is revealed, and about another half hour after that before Pete becomes the main suspect. Most of the film's first half seems to deal with the forbidden relationship between Pete and the First Lady, which loses just about any amount of heat or tension it could have brought to the film due to the fact that this subplot seems heavily edited in order to ensure a PG-13 rating. The fact that this plot development is almost all but dropped in the second half of the film makes it all the more pointless. The affair is simply there so Pete can fail the polygraph test, and become a suspect. It's a plot device and nothing more. When the film tries to become an action-heavy chase picture as Pete fights to stay ahead of his pursuers so he can learn the truth, it once again falls on its face, because we learn so little about the actual plot. We have no idea who the villains really are, or why the Secret Service Agent who actually is the Mole is working for them. Sure, we find out why he's forced to carry out the plan (the villains threaten his family), but we have no idea why he's with them in the first place.

That really is the central problem of The Sentinel. The film is surprisingly shallow and lacking in any sort of personality. The characters seem to fade in and out of existence, only popping up when the screenplay deems it appropriate. Not one single character is developed outside of their job in the Secret Service. Therefore, when the identity of the Mole is finally revealed, we meet it with general disinterest because he's someone whom we barely have gotten to know. Not only are the motives for his actions a mystery, but so is the man himself. Character relationships are kept to a bare minimum, or don't seem to exist at all. It's frustrating because in a thriller such as this, there needs to be chemistry and characters we can identify with or at least understand. The Sentinel keeps us at such a curious distance from its cast that they almost don't seem like people at all. Other problems with this film include editing, which seems to jump about from one plot point to another. As soon as Pete goes on the run, he seems to develop the unique ability to teleport anywhere he wants to within a moment's notice. One minute he's in Washington D.C., and a quick scene change later, he's in Canada to try to uncover the villains' plot. The movie jumps around from one area to the next like this that it starts to get annoying, almost as annoying as the uninspired direction of Clark Johnson, who seems content to simply film the actors just standing there talking, not trying anything interesting with his shots.

Of the cast, only Michael Douglas manages to create anything resembling an interesting character, and that's only because the movie follows his every move. He's believable, and for a man of his age, he's still able to hold up pretty well in these kind of action roles, even more so than Harrison Ford. The rest of the cast largely does not impress because they are given so little to do. Kim Basinger as the First Lady seems to be building up to something, only to have the movie almost completely forget about her during its second half, only popping up when convenient. Kiefer Sutherland seems to be playing a less-energized version of his Jack Bauer performance on TV's 24. His reasons for not getting along with Douglas' character seem forced, and the ultimate outcome of their relationship seems to come without warning and seemingly out of the blue. And poor Eva Longoria is given absolutely nothing to do but look attractive, and stand in the background for most of her scenes. I wish I could say something about the actors who play the villains masterminding the plot, but they're so underdeveloped that I don't think we even learn their names, save for two.

While its premise which sort of resembles a political-themed take on The Fugitive may not be entirely original, it could have worked if the filmmakers had cared more about it. The Sentinel is a movie that does not take full advantage of everything it's been given, both the big screen treatment and its strong cast. With an overall lazy production design and an underdeveloped script, the film seems to more resemble a failed two hour pilot for a TV series. All it has going for it is its big name cast, and since it all but squanders their talents except for Douglas, there's just no reason for this movie to even be on the screen. Perhaps The Sentinel will play better on DVD, since it seems to belong on the small screen in the first place. All I know is that there's a lot of wasted potential on display here.

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