The Sentinel

last updated 8 January 2015

Michael Douglas is sleeping with the wrong woman again, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. In The Sentinel, he plays ace Secret Service Agent Pete Garrison, who once took a bullet for Ronald Reagan. Now he heads the team guarding first lady Sarah Ballentine—played by Kim Basinger—whom he is secretly servicing. Explicit photos of their liaison are used to blackmail Garrison and frame him for an assassination attempt on President Ballentine. From there, the film 'œskitters off in other, awkwardly plotted and credulity-straining directions.' Basically, The Sentinel reworks 'œevery police thriller where a top cop falls under suspicion and must use the tools of his trade to prove his innocence while on the lam,' said Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter. It's incredible enough that the Secret Service guy is having an affair with the president's wife right under his nose. But it gets worse. A colleague of Garrison is murdered minutes before he is to spill confidential information to the beleaguered agent. Then the investigation is assigned to a man who hates Garrison for allegedly sleeping with his wife. Things pick up steam once Garrison is underground—and Douglas is 'œfree to be an action hero.' And a fine job he does of that, said John DeVore in The New York Sun. Who else can make 'œWall Street sharks, adulterers, and sex-crazed cops seem charismatic and sympathetic?'

Rating: PG-13