The Sentinel (2006)

Clint Eastwood may be a little too old (plus he kind of already did his own version of this movie in 1993's In the Line of Fire), but Harrison Ford could have been The Sentinel's lead and lent the same kind of top-flight Hollywood superstar craft that Michael Douglas brings as a superstar secret service agent fighting a frame-up in a panicky countdown to peril. That the marquee name could have belonged to anyone with the same chops as Douglas is no slam to him, Ford, Eastwood, or anyone else of their ilk. The Sentinel is a crackling good thriller because everyone involved is working at the top of their game. Pete Garrison (Douglas) is on the presidential protection detail when another agent is murdered. A creepy informer tells Garrison about an elaborate assassination conspiracy that's related and well underway. Garrison also happens to be having an affair with the First Lady (Kim Basinger), the stress of which causes him to flunk a lie detector test when word of the plot to kill the president becomes more than just paranoia. Garrison is soon on the run, being hunted by his protege David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland, whose 24 experience gives his performance an extra edge). But Garrison is the best, using all his secret service wiles (and there are plenty, the details of which give added tension and authenticity to the taut script) to evade his former comrades as the clock ticks. You can often see the plot thickening a mile away, and as much as the movie wants to keep us guessing, the real bad guy is an easy mark for the audience. But the energy and kinetic skill which propel the action are always spot on and enough to keep us from caring about the giveaways. Co-star Eva Longoria is miles away from her Desperate Housewives role and miles away from any real import of character in the movie. But the rest of the cast and the whooshing forward momentum of style and anxiety are plenty to keep The Sentinel in full-tilt suspense mode from beginning to end.--Ted Fry Amazon.com

"Secret" Service

a day in the life of an unrealistic Secret Service Agent and His protectee,Hillary Clinton needed this guy. November 17, 2008

review

Good show. Worth the price. One of those movies I will watch again and again. September 15, 2008

One good movie

The DVD arrived safely and I am enjoying watching it. I think it is one good movie. July 5, 2008

Plain vanilla thriller

The most interesting thing shown in this thriller is the current technology used to lift fingerprints from an object--and that actually IS interesting. But to begin with, the whole Secret Service thing was done before in Clint Eastwood's tremendously superior movie In the Line of Fire. Among other things, the featurettes provided in this DVD essentially echo what's included in the Eastwood movie DVD (in fact, In the Line of Fire's featurettes are superior also).

The plot of The Sentinel is really standard and you can basically spot the bad guy almost right from the get-go. Stock characters and plotting do not make for a gripping time at the movies. This is kind of fun to watch, hence the three stars, but certainly not top-drawer entertainment.

We have the tried and true experienced agent (Michael Douglas); we have his friend who's no longer his real friend because of a personal matter (Kiefer Sutherland); we have the hotshot rookie agent (Eva Longoria); we have the anonymous bad guys (actors whose names we haven't heard before); we have the surprisingly sexy first lady (Kim Basinger)...well, you get the idea.

Somebody's out to kill the president (whoa. now THERE'S a plot device I haven't come across until now), and all kinds of foreign nasty people are potentially involved--drug dealers, terrorists, you name it.

Yawn. But at least the action parts are pretty good, so you don't completely fall asleep while watching. It's OK.

It's just that it ain't any better than OK. January 30, 2008

Good action/adventure flick...

I thought this was a good action/adventure flick. It had a little too much soap opera side story to it, but over all it was exciting, well-paced with some twists. I would recommend it for action/adventure fans. September 29, 2007

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