By switching the roles played by Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland in The Sentinel, filmmakers might have boosted the appeal of this action thriller and made it more entertaining. I say “might have” because the rest of the movie also needs a bit of fixing. 

Douglas (Wonder Boys) looks almost apathetic as Pete Garrison, a veteran Secret Service agent whose claim to fame involves taking bullets for the U.S. President a number of years ago. Garrison doesn’t even seem too enthusiastic over his affair with lovely current First Lady Kim Basinger (Cellular).

On the other hand, Sutherland (Taking Lives) endows fellow agent David Breckenridge with a great deal of energy, but he spends most of the time doing an imitation of his Jack Bauer persona in 24. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all, 24 is my favorite TV series. It’s just that Breckinridge comes across as less sympathetic than Bauer, especially when displaying his hatred for Garrison, the character Douglas plays. Guess I wanted Sutherland to be the big hero I root for each week on the small screen. Yes, I know Garrison is supposed to be older than Breckinridge, but screenwriter George Nolfi (Ocean’s Twelve) could have used some creativity to work that out.  

Based on Gerald Petievich’s novel, The Sentinel tells a story about blackmail and an assassination plot against the President of the United States (David Rasche). Evidently Garrison and Breckinridge were once close friends. Now they are pitted against each other in a cat-and-mouse game. There’s a mole among the Secret Service guarding the President, and Garrison becomes the suspect. After Garrison escapes, Breckinridge chases his former pal like a modern-day Inspector Javert going after Jean Valjean. Fortunately, Breckinridge’s gorgeous rookie (Eva Longoria from TV’s Desperate Housewives) adds a bit of glamour to the chase.    

Unfortunately, director Clark Johnson (S.W.A.T.) allows these pursuit scenes too much screen time. Watching people running, crouching, skulking around corners, aiming guns and shooting them can get boring when carried on for so long. Jerky camera work is used here to heighten suspense but ends up being annoying instead, and the same can be said about the film's overpowering background music as well as its choppy editing.

Even worse, the characters lack in-depth development, so it’s difficult to care about them. Although I was appalled when Sutherland’s Breckinridge changed his attitude for the flimsiest of reasons, it shouldn’t have bothered me after so many unbelievable things occurred throughout The Sentinel. And, worst of all, I could tell the identity of the mole the very first time he appeared on screen. Don’t you hate it when that happens in a movie?

(Released by 20^th Century Fox and rated “PG-13” for some intense violence and a scene of sensuality.)