In these politically charged times, any movie showing a
fictional President of the United States inspires some sort of contemporary
connection, which usually translates into the blowhards of the right-wing media
spouting their customary vitriol. Because Independence
Day, Air Force One, and The American President, for example,
depicted a president in a positive light during the Clinton years, the whiners
complained about the “Hollywood elite” supporting a favorite; they failed to
mention Primary Colors or Wag the Dog (a much more relevant film
for this presidency, by the way), which showed a different sort of politics and
personality. Now, deep into the second term of a mendacious, cowardly, and
failed administration, the conservatives surely cannot regard The
Sentinel as anything other than a film about the present occupant of
the White House, another in an increasingly populous subgenre, the presidential
thriller.
Based upon the now familiar situation of a plot to
assassinate the president, The Sentinel focuses on a Secret Service agent, Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), who finds
himself framed on a charge of treason. Although brave and dedicated — he took
a bullet for Ronald Reagan — and considered one of the top men in the
service, Garrison inexplicably has never advanced in his career. That failure
provides part of the evidence for the charge against him,
leveled by his own colleagues, in particular a former friend, David
Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), who also suspects Garrison of an affair with
his wife.
Despite the initial premise of a potential assassination,
the movie concentrates its real attention on the agent’s plight, the familiar
situation of a man on the run from one group (his colleagues) and pursuing
another (the plotters who work against both him and the president). One of the
means by which the unknown conspirators entangle Garrison in their scheme
involves blackmail — they send him pictures showing his intimacy with the
first lady (Kim Basinger). (Considering the
oleaginous ministrations of the media to Laura Bush, a possible love affair
involving the president’s wife and a Secret Service agent seems both too
delicious and too threatening for the right wing to drool over).
In addition to the various personal complications, which the
script rather quickly and superficially skips through, another character
clutters up the plot. A rookie agent, Jill Marin (Eva Longoria), must deal with
conflicting loyalties. Although trained by Garrison, she works directly under
Breckinridge, which means that even when ordered by her boss, she
understandably hesitates to shoot her former mentor. Her character apparently
exists mainly to underline the animosity between the two men, and perhaps to
showcase a currently popular television performer, but otherwise adds little
intrinsic interest to the story.
The Sentinel works
best when it avoids those personal matters and concentrates instead on the
professional aspects of Garrison’s work. The normal business of the Secret
Service, its daily procedures, the nuts and bolts of its work, its techniques
of investigation and protection provide sufficient entertainment and
information to balance the often shallow and hasty attempts at a couple of back
stories. Those extraneous complications, in fact, tend to confuse and obscure
both the plot of flight and pursuit and the identities of the real conspirators
and the real traitor.
The filming works consistently to match the rapid and
constantly shifting movement of the action — the movie often seems to consist
entirely of plot — showing the characters from numerous points of view and
through a variety of lenses. Director Clark Johnson employs flashbacks in
varying color schemes, including the smeary primary colors of deteriorated film
stock, the fuzzy images of television screens, and grainy black and white
videotape from surveillance cameras, underlining plot points in slow motion and
stop motion.
Despite some exaggerations, the picture depends upon the
entirely recognizable background of contemporary history. No American needs
reminding of the possibility of presidential assassination, and the several
instances of treason in the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI demonstrate that no
government agency, whatever the training and commitment of its people, enjoys
any special immunity from corruption. And of course, The Sentinel also speculates thoughtfully about what Laura Bush may
really be doing when her husband is choking on his pretzels or falling off his
bicycle.
The Sentinel (PG-13),
directed by Clark Johnson, is playing at Culver Ridge 16, Eastview
13, Greece Ridge 12, Henrietta 18, Pittsford Cinema, Tinseltown,
and Webster 12.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2006.
