The Sentinel

Have you ever wondered what actually happens in those moments when you don't see what Jack Bauer is up to on 24? Have you ever wondered why exactly they never seem to take toilet breaks? Have you ever wondered why they never show you Jack stuck in a traffic jam or stuck behind some old lady in a deli waiting for his ham and cheese on wheat bread sandwich? If the answer to all of these questions is no then maybe you should reconsider going to see The Sentinel.

Every day the president's life is threatened. Every day the secret service do their best to protect the president from any and all threats; but what if the threat came from within?

Special agent to the President, Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), is about to have a very bad day. The president's life is threatened and it looks like the assassin could be someone within the secret service. It's up to Garrison to find out who it is and eliminate the threat. A series of events though seem to place Pete as the assassin and it is up to his former friend and FBI man David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), along with his rookie partner Jill Marin (Eva Longoria), to either find out who is trying to frame Pete or to bring him down.

Let me just explain my opening statement. It's not that this is a bad movie, it's just very boring and that was the best comparison to what it feels like watching this movie that I could come up with. It's been done before and as predictable as watching an episode of Big Brother. That's not to say that it doesn't have some interesting moments - it does - they just seem to be few and far between. The cast is what keeps this very mediocre story going. Douglas is always great to watch and due to the success of 24 I dare you not to think that Sutherland can be great in anything (hence the comparison to 24, as his character is like a toned down version of Jack Bauer). Longoria is good as a supporting character in one of her first movie roles. Kim Basinger is on hand as the First Lady and she pulls it off quite well.

Like I said, it's not a great movie, but if you have a spare £10 and have nothing else to do, go onto Ebay and try to buy a copy of 24; if not then go see this.