The Sentinel (2006)

Starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, et al
Rated PG-13, 108 minutes

I wasn’t exactly dragged to go see this, but I wasn’t enthusiastic either. I was really curious about “American Dreamz” and “Thank You For Smoking.” And when I left to go see this, my dad cracked “have fun at ’24: The Movie!’”

Yeah, Kiefer’s not the main character after all. He plays David Breckinridge, an investigator at the Secret Service, where he also works with Pete Garrison (Douglas), a former friend. The story starts to move when Jill Marin, played by Eva Longoria, is recommended by Garrison to work with Breckinridge. Then suddenly, an agent is murdered, and David & Jill are on the scene. Apparently there’s a mole in the Service, and David’s going to investigate. Just whom does he suspect? Well, DUH.

That sentence basically summarizes the plot here, but it’s a lot of fun. It may be a retread of an old, old story, but the cast is what makes it worthwhile. There’s some punchy comedic stuff in here – par for the course in any film created in the past ten years or so.

The first scene of this movie is an example of yet another film that chose to hit you with confusing scenes in the middle of action. It’s not edgy or artistic or cool or groundbreaking, it’s just annoying. There were a number of things throughout that felt like this, from the awkward scene transitions, allusions to backstories never fleshed out, etc.

***¼

Apparently a lot of 24 fans saw the trailer or something, because the theater was packed at 4:40 on a Saturday afternoon. “Sentinel” will serve its purpose once TNT or some other cable outlet buys it up and plays it every Saturday afternoon. In any event, worth the $5.50 I paid, but not remarkable.