The Sentinel Can't Even Stand On It's Own Two Legs
Let's define what a useless movie is, shall we? A useless movie is one that doesn't have an original idea in its head, which cannot look or feel original in any shape, way, or form. A useless movie has to use clichés to get things established, cannot pace even the most simplest of suspense scenes and cannot give us a reason to feel one way or another about the main protagonist.
The Sentinel is a useless film because it cannibalizes better suspense films for story ideas, better action films for shots, and even uses the same actors from said shows to quickly establish who is who and what is what. That's not just terrible, it is worse than that; the film is lazy.
The premise of The Sentinel concerns Secret Service agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) trying to stop an assassination of the president (this sound like In The Line of Fire to you?) while being framed for the crime himself. He, of course, must clear his name while a dogged detective (Keifer Sutherland) is on his trail (The Fugitive?). He must do this before the president is supposed to give a speech in Canada. He is hiding things due to his long-time affair with the First Lady (Kim Bassenger), which he is afraid of seeing get exposed (Fatal Attraction, anybody?).
The film is half-hearted in its dedication to the story and is completely lame in logic. Instead of using a simple device that would have worked (Have Pete Garrison get blackmailed into BEING the mole.), the film goes about having a REAL mole, which I knew from minute one (It's the Vincent Price Rule). And why would the Secret Service not pull out Secret Service mandate out on the president since his helicopter HAD just been blown up and he's wanting to go to a riot-infested Montreal to give a speech that really isn't that important? But thinking about such things would give you a headache (as it did me).
Here's my question: What photos did someone have on Michael Douglas to get him involved in this? They must have been really bad for him to not only star in this turkey, but also produce it. This is the man responsible for getting One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest in theatres. This isn't just a misstep, this is rock bottom. Keifer Sutherland found fame on the small screen with 24, a much more fascinating entertainment compared to this slosh. But 24 enjoyed its contradictions and kept toying with you over a long period of time. I got bored with The Sentinel and realized that the only way I could enjoy this film was to pick all the different films and shows this movie stole from. I counted ten films in the least.
Clark Johnson showed potential in SWAT, but has thrown his chips in the wrong pile. Worst still is that his style in filmmaking is starting to show a stale quality that was the initial reason Television was thought to be inferior to film. I'm surprised that a few filmmakers haven't came up and sued for plagiarism.
On a side note, I must wonder what Secret Service agents think about this movie. I can see them covering their faces, grumbling how they would never do that or do this or even contemplate letting the president go under this film's circumstances. They already have a thankless job; do we really need to insult their occupation any further?
All in all, this is a disgusting film that is a complete waste of your time and money. But even if it's showing for free, there are still good uses of your time, such as massive oral surgery, compared to seeing this film. Someone should assassinate this film and put it out of its misery