The Sentinel

(a.k.a. Jack Bauer the movie)

Official Site

So this movie opens today, and I plan to go see it after class. I'm not even gonna lie, the main appeal of this movie to me is Kiefer Sutherland, as he looks to be in full Jack Bauer mode in this film. The plot does seem interesting as well, and the rest of the cast (Eva Longoria, Michael Douglas, Kim Bassinger) is pretty good too.

So is anyone else gonna go see this movie? Or have you seen it already? Discuss it here.

(Everyone goes see Silent Hill)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That's about the only thing I'm afraid of as well. I mean, ever since I first heard about it, I've always seen it riding 24's coattails. I first saw the preview on the 24 season 4 DVD, and they showed the trailer right before 24 this week, among other things. I'll still go see it (without even reading reviews first), but that is my one concern about the film.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Where to start?

It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't the greatest either. I definitely could have waited for the DVD instead of going to see this in theatres. It had some moments, but nothing really on 24's level. If you wanted to see it, I'd say go ahead and do it to get it out of your system, but if you were on the fence about seeing it, I'd say wait to rent the DVD, or catch it on HBO or Showtime or whatever.

A few thoughts:

All the commercials and previews seemed to make it look like Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria would have a lot of screen time, but it was actually Michael Douglas and Kim Bassinger that had (especially Bassinger, who turned out to be more intregal to the plot than I ever thought she would be).

The whole uncovering of the mole wasn't really that good, as they never really focused on him that much anyway before we found out who it was. I was almost hoping that there would be a twist that Kiefer was actually the mole or something, just to spice it up a little bit. But that never would have happened, as his character in the movie was a 'follow the rules' kinda guy, nothing like Jack Bauer. If anything, Michael Douglas's character was more like Jack Bauer than Kiefer's was.

The ending left me with no emotion. It just didn't do anything, except end the movie. You don't really feel any consequences from these people's actions, it's like everything just went back to normal. Yep, all the moles, plots to kill the president, secret service agents having affairs with the first lady, and dead secret service agents is over with now, okey dokey.

I'm left with the feeling that if this story was fleshed out over a longer period of time, or more detailed (i.e. like a season of 24), it could have been better. But as it is now, it's just okay. Now I'm scared about how good the 24 movie will actually be, since it'll be outside it's natural format.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by AC1

Spoiler:

HA HA HA sounds like the a precursor to 24 this season, eh?!

Spoiler:

Yeah, the first thing I thought of when they revealed that was "Oh shit, Aaron Pierce and Martha Logan up in here! Too bad they haven't done anything too serious with that plotline yet, though. I mean, when Michael Douglas did it, he got blackmiled into being framed for taking part in a conspiracy to kill the President! But who am I kidding, Aaron Pierce is too pimp to let that happen to himself.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Skexis

I'm actually curious, because I haven't seen Michael Douglas in anything good since The Game. Was he pretty good in his role? Was there a believable mentor/apprentice relationship going on between he and Sutherland?

I would definitely say he was good in his role. If there any faults in his character, I would say it's more in the writing than his performance. He had great chemistry with all the other actors, performed well in the action scenes, and overall was probably the best actor in the movie.

Spoiler:

As for the relationship, it's kinda hard to tell, as they spend most of their time as adversaries in the film. Even before Douglas is framed, they don't like each other because Douglas apparently had an affair with Sutherland's wife at the time a few years ago. Once they do start working together though, there is definitely some great chemistry, and I think they achieved the mentor/apprentice relationship along with the friendship between the two they were going for by the end of the film.

It also worked in some parts while they were going against each other. Sutherland had Douglas cornered, and even though he did shoot him, he shot him in his bulletproof vest. He had the oppurtunity to shoot him again (Douglas even said something like "You know if you wanted to shoot me you would aim for my head!"), but he didn't do it, letting Douglas escape. The scene worked really well in showing that, even though Sutherland wanted to do his job and take Douglas down, and even though he hated him for having the affair with his wife, he still had some respect for the man who was his teacher and friend.

I was speaking idiomatically.