The Sentinel Review
By Joe Lozito
Guarder Complex
It's hard to hate a movie that claims to be nothing more or less than it is. "The Sentinel", a taut, old-school suspense yarn directed - or should I say over-directed? - by "S.W.A.T.'s" Clark Johnson looks like one of those routine whodunit thrillers set against the backdrop of the presidency. And that's exactly what it is.
This ethic is embodied by Kiefer Sutherland's performance. As David Breckinridge - one of those hard-nosed investigators who chides his new recruit for being one minute late - Mr. Sutherland delivers nothing more than you'd expect from the man who's survived four of the longest days in television history on "24". While his Breckinridge is basically a clone of "24's" Jack Bauer, Mr. Sutherland - all intense whispers and stares - gives the role exactly what it requires. Nothing more, nothing less.
Breckinridge is assigned to investigate a murder which leads to the rumor of a mole within the Secret Service. Michael Douglas, who played the president in the mid-90s, here plays veteran Secret Service agent Pete Garrison, working at odds with Mr. Sutherland for the same goal. You know Pete's the best because he was on duty when Reagan was shot. This assassination attempt has been the litmus test for all movie Secret Service agent-heroes (see Clint Eastwood's "In the Line of Fire" for more details).
Mr. Douglas is always at his best playing powerful men whose power is slowly stripped away (see "Wall Street", "The Game", "Black Rain" and virtually the rest of his filmography). Here he plays a man close to the most powerful man in the world and, at 62, he's still a convincing action hero. His Pete Garrison knows the tricks of the trade better than anyone and, after the first half of the film sets up the Secret Service's security protocols, the second half shows Garrison knocking them down. Thankfully, the script by George Nolfi ("Ocean's Twelve"), based on the novel by Gerald Petievich ("Boiling Point", "To Live and Die in L.A."), makes these loopholes believable. Or at least believable enough for a movie such as this one.
Eva Longoria and Kim Basinger round out the cast as a rookie agent and the First lady, respectively. Ms. Basinger isn't given much to do except portray some kind of unholy mix of Hillary Clinton and Jackie O. Ms. Longoria on the other hand shows promise for that tricky transition from Desperate Housewife to film, but she should stop taking roles that focus so much on her appearance.
Though it's technically a political thriller, "The Sentinel" exists in a world beyond the reality of current politics. The president in the film (David Rasche) is a bland party-neutral cipher; a stand-in without any relationship to George W or any other non-movie president in memory. And that's how "The Sentinel" wants it. It's not going to wow you with anything new. But if you're looking for a tightly-wound suspense yarn, that's what you'll get from this film. Nothing more, nothing less.
