The Sentinel Review

Inevitably compared to the other movie about the Secret Secret agency - the excellent In The Line Of Fire (ITLOF). Where the Clint Eastwood started its story with the assasination of President Kennedy, The Sentinel kicked off with the attempted shooting of President Reagan. One POTUS (acronym for the President Of The United States) died while the other survived. Both protagonists are grizzled vets, Eastwood's character more affected by his experiences while Douglas' Pete Garrison seemed to be enjoying himself with an on-going affair with Kim Basinger's FLOTUS.

Duties of the Secret Service is also not well explored. Besides the usual protection detail unit (even past Presidents are still protected), Secret Service agents also perform wide ranging duties such as investigate threats to the President, counterfeiting cases, various enforcement programs, etc.... While we get glimpses of the technology the agency employs, it's unfortunate that this area wasn't explored. There wasn't much character development either. We didn't get to see the stresses these dedicated men and women go through when executing their duties. Eva Longoria was merely a mannequin in most scenes. She wouldn't be missed.

Several loopholes were noted. While fully aware of the threats to the President, why weren't the agents wearing their Kevlar vests? How come only 1 was seen using his sub-machinegun during the shootout at the basement? The ending seemed rushed and tied up too easily. Why on earth would the handler grab FLOTUS when his target was actually the POTUS? If he wanted to kill the FLOTUS, wouldn't it be better to just shoot her?

When compared to his earlier S.W.A.T. however, Clark Johnson's direction seemed to have improved a tad. Some aspects such as some arty cut scenes were better left out but generally this story is entertaining enough if you don't think too much. S.W.A.T. was so bad in my opinion, that I was angry about the wasted opportunity. All the pouting by the S.W.A.T. operators didn't help either.

Carbo Man's verdict: 5.5/10