The Sentinel, Reviewed... sort of

Take The Fugitive, swap Harrison Ford for Michael Douglas, nix the murdered wife bit, add Jack Bauer, a desperate housewife, a bombshell first lady and a few Russian terrorists (one with a strange, near Australian accent) and you have The Sentinel.

The movie was well made, though much of it seemed more formatted for television than film--plenty of great commercial break moments. The script was decent, the pace moved along just right, the plot wasn't horrible. All together, it was good entertainment. No real twists or turns, but not a complete waste of two hours.

I won't break down the plot, since that just takes too long, but I will mention that there were a few holes to fill once the credits began rolling. Such as, why did Russian terrorists want to kill the president? No motive was ever revealed. Mildly frustrating. The characters could also have used more development. The final "saving the president" scene is also terribly far fetched and confusing. (I know, I know...it's a movie.)

Though the movie was entertaining, I have to say that probably the most entertaining aspect of the experience wasn't even on the screen. Rather it was my desire to interject, "I'm Jack Bauer!" after every last scene with Kiefer Sutherland in it. He doesn't exactly save the universe like he does on tv each week, but gets really close.

It gets three stars from me (out of five).