The Sentinel (2006)

Director: Clark Johnson

Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger

A Secret Service agent is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the President. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the run from a Secret Service Protective Intelligence Division agent.

‘The Sentinel’ is an action thriller I at times found difficult to follow.

The film follows Secret Service agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) who is being framed for an ‘assassination attempt’ (as the logline states) on the President, but in the movie there never was an assassination attempt on the President. There’s only talk of a plot to assassinate the President. Pete’s best friend and fellow secret service agent, Charlie, is gunned down in front of his house. Even here it’s not clear how Pete could be framed for his murder, so up until the point where Pete is being accused and chased, it’s not clear what he did wrong.

The suspense is enhanced by the fact Pete is having an affair with the First Lady, Sarah (Kim Basinger), and someone took pictures of them together. Kiefer Sutherland stars as David Breckinridge, who investigates and pursues Pete. David and Pete used to be best friends until Pete had an affair with David’s wife. (What’s with this Pete Garrison character anyway?)

The action scenes are good and there’s plenty of gunfire and shootouts. The film had its thrilling and exciting moments, but in general the motives were not very clear, and there were quite a few plot holes. Michael Douglas delivered a good performance, as did Sutherland. I didn’t fully understand Pete’s ‘informant’ Walter Xavier. Was he friend or foe? And what was his connection to everything? Where did he get his information from?

While it wasn’t a fantastic movie, it also wasn’t bad. I just don’t think its the type of movie I’ll be watching again.

‘The Sentinel’ earned $78 million on a $60 million budget.

Would I watch it again? No.