U.S. MARSHALS
Release Date: March 6, 1998 Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr., Kate Nelligan, Tom Wood, Joe Pantoliano, LaTanya Richardson Directed by: Stuart Baird Distributed by: Warner Bros. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (some scenes of violence, brief language) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/usmarshals.htm
A friend said something like this to me after seeing this movie: "If THE FUGITIVE was the story from the fugitive's point of view, then U.S. MARSHALS is the story from the cop's point of view." Makes sense, doesn't it? And yet so many people, including myself, went into this movie expecting U.S. MARSHALS to convey the same edge-of-your-seat suspense as did its quasi-predecessor, the 1993 blockbuster THE FUGITIVE. Although Tommy Lee Jones reprises his Academy Award-winning role in respectable fashion, a lot of the elements which made THE FUGITIVE such an enjoyable movie have not been brought back. With little or no suspense, no engaging plot, no truly likeable characters, and most of all, no Harrison Ford, what does U.S. MARSHALS have going for it?
There are reasons that this movie is worth seeing. Tommy Lee Jones, as U.S. Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard, and his crack team of criminal-chasers, were engaging characters - albeit not ones that you hold close to your heart. Gerard's team, in particular, was the lone source of lighthearted dialogue. Their constant banter, which usually takes place behind or around the stony-faced Gerard, was what helped the audience bear with the cumbersome plot. Wesley Snipes, playing Mark Sheridan, the man that Gerard has to chase down, in no way replaces Harrison Ford's character of Dr. Kimble. Robert Downey Jr., who co-stars as an intelligence spook named John Royce, is nothing but a plot facet: his character is necessary for the new, complex plot to hold together but on the whole is unnecessary for the theme.
The plot which encompasses these characters tells as follows: Marshal Gerard and team set the ball rolling by taking down a household of redneck arms hustlers. A tough breed, they require some extra restraining, and in the siege, Gerard hits one of the criminals over the head with a shotgun. The redneck threatens to sue, and so Gerard's boss (Kate Nelligan) has Gerard go to Washington, DC, to do a public relations bit for the Marshal Service. Unfortunately, she's got him flying to DC on a prison transport plane with several other marshals and, among others, Mark Sheridan. Everything is fine until an attempt on Sheridan's life is made by another prisoner and the plane goes down in the ensuing chaos. Sheridan escapes, and Gerard calls his team in for another fugitive situation. This time, though, John Royce, a domestic intelligence agent, is assigned to the case because of the special nature of criminal that Sheridan is.
The plot has amazing possibilities, and it comes close to grasping some of those, but it never really realizes its full potential. The way that Director Stuart Baird tells the story is a decidedly sub-par affair, for the tale comes out clumsy and unintriguing. During the 133-minute running time, there are only a handful of scenes which have any real watchability for action or suspense or both, others do nothing but rehash ground that THE FUGITIVE has firmly trod over. This could have been a much better movie, and although it's worth seeing, the decision is primarily viewer merit.
FINAL AWARD FOR "U.S. MARSHALS": 2.0 stars - a fair movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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