I'm no lover of the current White House Administration, but I hope for the sake of national security that the Secret Service is not the organization of bumbling, inept agents that is portrayed in "The Sentinel." If this film shows their procedures and actions with any accuracy, I'd say the Secret Service needs to do some massive housekeeping. Now.
"The Sentinel" is a government thriller from the overused genre box of government thrillers. Though the concept of a mole within the body assigned to protect the life of the president adds an intriguing twist to the storyboards, "The Sentinel" never reaches the speed that it could. Instead, it leaves the audience wondering what happened to the depth and suspense that seemed bountiful in the trailer. Thankfully, it ends with enough tension to redeem its otherwise lackluster performance.
The action centers upon Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), a Secret Service legend who took a bullet for Reagan in 1981 and trained most of the service agents working with him. Though he has never moved up in the ranks to a desk job or a heftier title, he works right where he wants, which is on First Lady Sarah Ballantine's (Kim Basinger) personal detail. We quickly learn that somehow, within the past eight months, his service to Mrs. Ballantine has become even more personal, and the two are involved in a heated affair which is somehow lost on the amiable President (David Rasche).
This tryst was not lost on one agent, however, who happened to be a good friend of Garrison's. Unfortunately, he is gunned down in front of his house early in the film, setting the stage for the entrance of David Breckenridge (Kiefer Sutherland), a Secret Service investigator, and Jill Marin, (Eva Longoria) a rookie fresh out of the academy tagging along on her first assignment.
The trouble begins for Garrison when one of his old informants mentions that there is an assassination attempt that will go down soon; more shocking is the fact that the key insider helping the assassins is most likely someone within the Secret Service. An investigation ensues, and Garrison works hard to cover his indiscretion. In fact, he works so hard to hide the truth that he falls right into a plot to frame him as the mystery turncoat. When Breckenridge discovers a connection between the two controversies, he is more than eager to arrest Garrison, with whom he has bad blood (the reason for it makes you question Garrison's trustworthiness). However, Garrison escapes and, for the remainder of the movie, he spends his time trying to dodge the Service, clear his name, and convince the First Lady of his innocence.
As for the actors, it seems that Sutherland and Longoria were thrown in to give the film a bit of pop culture spark. Sutherland, hot off of his smash television series "24," plays Breckenridge with the intensity of Jack Bauer, but without the intuition and common sense of the average man. He's lauded for "following the evidence," but appears to forget the possibility that the evidence might point in more directions than the obvious.
Longoria, of "Desperate Housewives" fame, clearly exists as the dose of estrogen in a male-dominated feature. She does little more than talk on the phone, run in high heels and look gorgeously confused. Any other actress could have easily filled the role, which only requires physical beauty and an ability to multitask.
This leaves Douglas and Basinger, two Oscar-winning film veterans, with the task of bringing a dimension of profundity to the film. The relationship between the two is palpable, solidified by the awkward game of avoidance they play in public and the heated looks they steal at one another. However, as the film progresses, each actor falls victim to the constraints of the script. Douglas begins to look bored halfway through the film and Basinger's alternating hysterical and composed faces grow tiresome, making her A-line, pastel-colored attire more interesting than her acting (Basinger's wardrobe was designed by Oleg Cassini, the former personal designer of Jacqueline Kennedy).
While the idea of having a mole in the Secret Service is somewhat captivating and unsettling, George Nolfi's screenplay and Clark Johnson's direction together yield an unaffecting result. Long shots of what is supposed to be Douglas and Sutherland's tense chase scene fit together like a puzzle, but the dialogue and action of the scene leave you scratching your head in confusion. Their best scene together is a screaming argument in Douglas's living room, which answers many questions about their former friendship.
In addition, many holes and impossibilities make it difficult to follow the flow of the story, let alone to believe it. I'd like someone to explain how Douglas gets past three security guards through telephone calls, darting around corners and hiding in a wine cellar that one agent suggests is "contained" simply because it is locked. Her response when her slip-up is brought to light? She looks away dumbly. How do you avoid security cameras? Simply walk beneath them. I've also learned that a government badge can get you into any police station laboratory without question. Period.
It is only at the end of the film that "The Sentinel" regains a taut, suspenseful pace, causing the pieces that have been scattered carelessly throughout the film to fall neatly into place. The film saves itself from a prosaic end when the pace is reestablished.
