.MOVIE LISTINGS | MOVIE REVIEW ARCHIVE | THEATER INFO Insecurity Putting the 'secret' in Secret Service BY JASON BLAIR THE SENTINEL: Directed by Clark Johnson. Written by George Nolfi. Cinematography by Gabriel Beristain. Music by Christophe Beck. Starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Eva Longoria, Blair Brown and Martin Donovan. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. PG-13. 108 minutes. "Don't you get enough of this stuff on TV?" Sutherland, Douglas and Longoria in The Sentinel. Pete Garrison is a lion among Secret Service kittens. According to The Sentinel, Garrison (Michael Douglas) took a bullet for Ronald Reagan, which makes him close to untouchable in his department. If movies teach us anything, however, it's that heroes suffer the trappings of fame in equal measure with fame's rewards. To put it delicately, Garrison's personal life isn't heroic. He has a weakness for other men's wives. Garrison is directly responsible for the First Lady (Kim Basinger). Throughout the movie, Basinger is referred to her by her code name, which happens to be "Cincinnati." That might have worked for Hillary, but for the woman who tamed Mickey Rourke all those years ago it hardly seems appropriate. The president is played by David Rasche, and the fact that you haven't heard of Rasche is significant to how this film works. In The Sentinel, Garrison — who's attractive in a silvery, Clintonesque kind of way — is more presidential than the president. The president is about as confident as Stuart Smalley. He's basically a nincompoop. Garrison hasn't been loyal to the president, and when an assassination plot is uncovered, he's a perfect candidate for framing. Enter Agent Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), a veteran investigator who's about as upbeat as a colonoscopy. Breckinridge has a chip on his shoulder the size of the Oval Office. He skulks around like everyone is sleeping with his wife, which, it appears, Garrison did a few years ago. As you can imagine, it didn't do much for their professional relationship. Breckinridge has been waiting for Garrison to stumble ever since. Agent Marin (Eva Longoria) is Breckinridge's partner. Her primary duty is to be flirted with by other agents. Her secondary duty is to remain at least 10 feet behind Agent Breckinridge as if he's some kind of sultan. Longoria should have known better. The movie plays like an episode of "The West Wing" produced by CNN. It's slick, brisk and convincing enough to look at, but you wonder if reality is getting trampled by the need for story. The Sentinel is typical of thrillers (political or otherwise) in that the good guys always have bullet-proof vests and the villains can't shoot anyway. That's not to say there aren't some tense moments in The Sentinel. The second half is a MacGyver-esque sprint in which Garrison, on the run, attempts to exonerate himself. Sometimes his methods are ingenious, but mostly they're just ridiculous. I know other patrons in the theater enjoyed the movie because I heard a woman turn to a man and say, "I'm really enjoying this movie!" But given this cast, we deserve more. If you're interested one iota in motivation — Why do the assassins want to kill the president? What's behind Garrison's indiscretions? — rent a Tony Robbins video instead. How Garrison the philanderer avoids disgrace is a mystery not even the FBI could solve. Fortunately, they don't have to.
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