Douglas leads Sentinel

April 24, 2006 —

The Sentinel is a mature movie, mature in that it features characters that speak and act in a manner that resembles real people, a feature that is sorely lacking in many recent commercial films. It is mature also in that it knows itself for what it is - a movie - and allows itself to probe the limits of what it can and cannot do, attempting to balance between believability and the absurd, at which it is mostly successful.

Michael Douglas plays a Secret Service agent named Pete Garrison who is in a rather unusual predicament. His coworker has been shot, the same day he tells Douglas to call him later, acting as though he had something important to tell him. Something shady is going on. Additionally, Garrison is having an affair with the First Lady. On top of all of this, someone anonymous knows about the affair and is attempting to blackmail him in some way. So, needless to say, Garrison is in a world of trouble.

Things get worse when a snitch Garrison has worked with in the past reveals to him that there is a plot being hatched to assassinate the President. Obviously this ties in with the killing of the other agent and perhaps with the affair blackmail business, as well. It is then revealed that there is a mole within the Secret Service that is a part of the assassination plot.

Maybe this is all starting to sound a bit silly, but onscreen it is executed as tastefully as possible, and Douglas is a good actor, driving his role well and helping the movie remain plausible. Kiefer Sutherland also supplies some quality supporting acting, playing an agent who is known as one of the best. He also used to be best friends with Garrison, until Garrison allegedly had an affair with his wife.

When things really get underway with the plot, Garrison becomes the prime suspect as a result of trying to cover up his affair, although he has the well-being of both the President and the First Lady in mind as he does this. Garrison is not someone to be taken lightly, as he has many years of experience. With the Secret Service pursuing one of their best, The Sentinel becomes an exciting game of chase. The dark past between the characters played by Sutherland and Douglas makes the chase quite a personal one. This reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro in The Hunted. While The Sentinel doesn't really pull anything off as well as The Hunted did, it does do a pretty good job at grounding the major events taking place by using this intense relationship.

The Sentinel has some exciting scenes and also has its dull moments. It was sometimes difficult to follow what characters were talking about due to the presence of Secret Service jargon and methods which, accurate or not, are not easy to decipher for the layman. It stands at the brink of taking itself a bit too seriously but never fully crosses that line. Part of what helps in this regard is the overall believable and effective dialogue and acting. It is a relief to see people onscreen talking to one another like human beings instead of robots or caricatures.

This is not a movie one will be likely to think of a month or perhaps even a week after seeing, but any memories that do happen to be conjured are not likely to be unpleasant.