THE SENTINEL

"There is a traitor in the Secret Service"

Throughout its history the Secret Service has protected the President of the United States and they have never been infiltrated by an enemy agent until now. Special Agent Pete Garrison (Douglas) has uncovered a plot to assassinate President Ballentine (Rasche) but the terrorists seem to know the command and chief's every move meaning someone must have access to his security detail. As Secret Service Agent David Breckinridge (Sutherland) investigates, he uncovers evidence that leads him to make the conclusion that Pete Garrison is the traitor.

There haven't been many movies about the Secret Service with one noticeable exception but can 'The Sentinel' be better than 'In the Line of Fire'?

Clint Eastwood's 1993 Secret Service action drama set the standard when it came to movies about the agency that protects the President of the United States but instead of trying to match or even better that movie, the filmmakers behind this latest protective detail fail to stop the guns been fired. Even with a top-notch cast, the film lacks tension and most importantly invention that will protect it from been extremely average.

The main problem with the movie is the lack of clarity in the story. As you watch the film, unnecessary subplots and characters pop up to distract you and when the people behind the assassination attempt are revealed, their motivations feel like they have escaped from 1980s just so they don't upset anyone who might actually want to kill the President. There also seems to be scenes missing, making the story jump around and not answer all the questions that is poses.

A plot to assassinate the President of the United States is nothing new to movies and it takes some real invention and creativity to make this storyline riveting to watch and unfortunately 'The Sentinel' does absolutely nothing new. The action is uninspired, the acting brings nothing new to the genre, the villains are cliched and the conclusion is extremely obvious. This all comes together to make one very average movie.

Like Clint Eastwood did in 1993, Michael Douglas plays a veteran Secret Service Agent who was part of an assassination attempt on a President. Again the film gives the chance to a veteran actor to show that he can still hold his own in the action stakes. Michael Douglas just about pulls this off and you accept him as the character but you feel that he could do much better with a superior script. Returning to the big screen after reinventing himself on television, Kiefer Sutherland doesn't do himself any favours by basically playing his '24' character Jack Bauer in a suit. The role doesn't really challenge the actor and you keep expecting him to just take matters into his own hands as the clock is ticking. Eva Longoria and Kim Basinger are just there to bring some beauty to the proceeding, with Eva's character having nothing to do in the slightest and is only eye candy.

'The Sentinel' is a watchable movie but one that you will instantly forget as soon as the credits role. Completely average throughout and not a patch on the far superior 'In the Line of Fire', this is a cinematic reason for why the Secret Service should stay secret.