Review – The Sentinel

There’s a chance that I might have liked this better if I hadn’t just finished watching the DVDs of the first season of “24.” The common characteristics – particularly Kiefer Sutherland – between the two practically screams for comparison, and in the balance this one’s found wanting. When one is called upon to come up with only two hours’ worth of story, it really needs to be more tightly plotted than this. Michael Douglas stars as a Secret Service agent who gets framed for attempting to assassinate the President. Rather than take his lumps, he breaks free of his captors and goes on a half-baked, one-man crusade to find the real terrorists. This of course causes his former fellow agents – particularly his one-time protégé (Sutherland) – to chase after him as the number one suspect rather than pursuing the actual criminals. Why that makes Douglas’ character the hero is completely beyond me, except of course that it works out okay in the end. This one scores a point or so for technical quality, but the script and acting are too terrible for it to rise any higher. See if desperate