'The Sentinel': Story dies amid gunfire

It is reassuring to know that the president of the United States is well protected by a Secret Service equipped with state-of-the-art computers and tracking equipment. The only hitch is when the would-be assassin is a mole inside the guard force who has access to the same high-tech toys.

20th Century Fox 'The Sentinel' C+ The verdict: A high-tech who's-the-assassin scenario, with better action than logic. Director: Clark Johnson Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Martin Donovan, Paul Calderon Run time: 108 minutes Release date: April 21, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for some intense action violence and a scene of sensuality. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'The Sentinel'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

That is the premise of The Sentinel, a contemporary political thriller that plays like a feature-length episode of television's 24. That series comes naturally to mind because of the casting of Kiefer Sutherland as the service's doggedly determined top investigative agent. Then again, it also stars an underused Eva Longoria as a rookie agent, but otherwise the movie has no resemblance to Desperate Housewives.

Sutherland is one of two second generation actors — along with Michael Douglas — pitted against each other as agents who are former friends turned adversaries, after Sutherland's character accuses Douglas of breaking up his marriage. So when Douglas fails a lie detector test, largely because he is now having an affair with first lady Kim Basinger, Sutherland is more than ready to believe Douglas is capable of homicidal treason.

While not exactly innocent, Douglas is no assassin, so the film plays out its "wrong man" scenario as Douglas not only has to elude the Secret Service, FBI and a few hit men, but figure out who the wayward agent is and nab him before he can knock off the president.

Director Clark Johnson (S.W.A.T.) does little to plug the logic holes in the screenplay by George Nolfi (Ocean's Twelve), nor does he care about playing fair with Washington, D.C., geography. Still, he knows his way around an action sequence, as he shows with some nice cat-and-mouse chasing through the streets of the nation's capital and a thumping-good shootout in a shopping mall.

Ultimately, the movie has its climax at a G8 summit conference in Toronto, but by then The Sentinel gives up caring about story in favor of pure gunfire.

Like Harrison Ford in Firewall, Douglas has to transform himself into an aged superhero to save the day, but at least that is slightly more plausible since he begins as a crackerjack G-man rather than a bank security expert.

The Sentinel is hardly the sort of movie where much acting is required, but the verbal sparring and general belligerence between Douglas and Sutherland is sufficiently believable.

A couple of months from now, The Sentinel will be long forgotten, but if you need an injection of testosterone and firearms this weekend, it should fill that bill.