The Sentinel

So there's really no reason for a film like The Sentinel (2006) to exist. It lacks dramatic tension, evolving characters, motivated villains, British accents, and emotional investment.

If a film aspires to be more than a standard affair in the political thriller genre, it needs to examine the inner psychology of its protagonists, rather than rely on the threat to their professional career, which, let's be honest, no one cares about. So if the film starts considering more of why every character is divorced or having an affair with another character (i.e. Michael Douglas' main character with Kim Basinger's President's Wife), then we have some sort of internal struggle being played out. Unfortunately, the film stays on the peripheral level with regard to these more fundamental questions, instead thinking that showing Eva Longoria's character slowly putting on more and more clothes as the film progresses is what we want to see.

The film never really provides dramatic twists in the who's-behind-it-all department, when there's easily three or four twists that could be generated from this material. Alas, this film feels more like a first draft of a script than most thriller movies out there.

There's something interesting about Kiefer Sutherland's constant hunting for Douglas' character because Kiefer's blames Douglas for the failure of his marriage, but all this is sketched out rather than really developed. As such, the film relies on the ol- ex-KGB crap, and leads to the middle of nowhere. The only interesting facet of this film is that Longoria does not end up with either Douglas or Sutherland, which is almost a progressive move on the filmmakers' part. But, again, this move is also why no one cares about the film. The Sentinel does offer one possibility which subverts any claims of ironic progressivenes: take a swig of beer every time a minority FBI or military African American is shot/blown up and you'll be mighty drunk by the end of the movie.

The Sentinel: 4/10