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The Sentinel

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The Sentinel (2006)

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Reviews Counted:133

Fresh:44

Rotten:89

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: The Sentinel starts off well enough but quickly wears thin with too many plot holes and conventional action sequences.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

US Box Office: $36,226,144

Synopsis: Pete Garrison is a U.S. Secret Service agent who saved a president's life by jumping in front of a hail of bullets, over twenty years ago. Well-liked and respected by his colleagues in the... Pete Garrison is a U.S. Secret Service agent who saved a president's life by jumping in front of a hail of bullets, over twenty years ago. Well-liked and respected by his colleagues in the Secret Service, Garrison is a career agent who now heads the First Lady's detail. He lives in a high-level, orderly world of hierarchical structure, plans, maps, motorcades, code names, lingo and procedures. It's a universe that makes sense, until secrets begin to tear it apart. Pete's fellow agent and friend, Charlie Merriweather, hints at wanting to share critical and confidential information. Before that can happen, however, Merriweather is shot dead at his house in a crime that is made to look like a botched robbery. The investigation falls to the Secret Service's top investigative agent, David Breckinridge, a volatile combination of by-the-book and hothead, Garrison's protégé, and, until recently one of Garrison's best friends. Breckinridge follows the evidence and only the evidence and scrupulously tries to avoid working from his gut. That's what being a great investigator requires. Garrison, as perhaps the greatest protective agent in the service, often has to work from gut, from pure instinct. In protective work that is often all you have. Garrison's and Breckinridge's recent falling out was triggered by Breckinridge's mistaken belief that Garrison was having an affair with Breckinridge's now ex-wife. Jill Marin, a tough, sassy and ambitious young agent who just graduated second in her class at the Secret Service Academy, arrives for her first field posting. She has requested a work detail with Breckinridge because Garrison, while leading a field instruction exercise at the Academy told Jill that Breckinridge was the best investigator in the entire Service. Together the trio begins to uncover what appears to be an inside job to assassinate the president – a traitor in the ranks of the Secret Service. It's never happened in the institution's 141-year history. Suspicion ultimately falls on Garrison, who's going to find it extremely difficult to clear his name because someone is framing him. Whoever is framing Garrison knows he's vulnerable because he's devoting considerable effort to hiding a monumental secret. Suspected of being treasonous, Garrison goes on the run, pursued by Breckinridge and Marin – his own colleagues – as he tries to nail the real mole and save the president's life. --© 20th Century Fox [More]

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Michael Douglas, Martin Donovan

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Michael Douglas, Martin Donovan, Blair Brown, Ritchie Coster, David Rasche, Eva Longoria

Director: Clark Johnson

Director: Clark Johnson
Screenwriter: George Nolfi
Producer: Michael Douglas, Arnon Milchan, Bill Carraro
Composer: Christophe Beck
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Reviews for The Sentinel

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
08/04/06
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A serviceable, workaday thriller, no better or no worse than any other thriller you've seen lately.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
04/21/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

It's a shame that "The Sentinel" wastes its intelligent façade, because with all the unthrilling thrillers that have come and gone from movie screens, this one might have been worth something.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
08/29/06
Rory L. Aronsky
Rory L. Aronsky
Film Threat

Gives a good name to the brand of cookie-cutter thriller that satisfies like no other.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
04/19/06
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

In between is a slickly executed generic thriller that, like its humorless investigator Breckinridge, does it all by the book.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/20/06
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

So, although some enjoyment can be had from watching The Sentinel with an uncritical eye, it remains a deeply flawed piece of mainstream action entertainment.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
04/21/06
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

The story and style fit comfortably with today's TV and movie fashions: the cop procedural, kinetic editing, a pressure-cooker job rife with competition, and a countdown to possible disaster.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
04/21/06
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News

If it weren't for the clout of its two leading men, The Sentinel would be nothing more than a made-for-cable or direct-to-DVD feature.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
10/11/06
Russ Breimeier
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today

Johnson doubtless planned to deliver a hand-wringing thriller filled with unexpected twists and turns, but even good intentions can find themselves caught in the line of fire.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
04/26/06
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

An underwhelming political thriller.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
02/14/08
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

A paint-by-numbers thriller so derivative that you can’t help but think about how much you’d rather be watching the numerous movies it apes.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
04/24/06
Brett Buckalew
Brett Buckalew
FilmStew.com

The Sentinel, a thriller that delivers a few pulse-pounding moments before running aground on its own derivativeness.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
04/21/06
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Strictly boilerplate...fail[s] to pursue any interesting avenues, using the cardboard characters as mere shooting-range targets.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
04/21/06
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

It's somewhat predictable and uses many cliche devices, but it keeps the audience guessing at least part of the time.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
09/15/06
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

A half-hearted exercise in political paranoia,The Sentinel unravels its wrong-man scenario with business-like efficiency and an impressively jittery visual scheme, but falls far short of providing visceral or emotional thrills.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/21/06
Justin Chang
Justin Chang
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Michael Douglas might have been hired for the star power he could bring for a good opening weekend [but] it's . . . Kiefer Sutherland who walks off with the film

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
04/19/06
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Decent, but nothing special, as an entertaining time killer and as a kind of ode to the U.S. Secret Service.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
04/20/06
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

Director Clark Johnson ("S.W.A.T.") brings a little style to what is otherwise a pretty meat and potatoes presidential thriller with a solid if unexceptional cast.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/22/06
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

It may be slick and entertaining, but this is also one of the most careless political thrillers ever made.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
07/01/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
 
 
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April 20, 2006: Critical Consensus: A Weak "Sentinel," So-So "Dreamz" Are Made Of This, "Silent Hill" Not Screened
This week at the movies we've got a Secret Service agent on a mission ("The Sentinel"), an "American Idol"- skewering political satire ("American... More...

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