U.S. Marshals Review
by David Sunga (zookeeper AT criticzoo DOT com)March 8th, 1998
U.S. MARSHALS (1998)
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4.0)
********************************
Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out *********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Stuart Baird
Written by: John Pogue
Ingredients:
Fugitive federal agent, ace U.S. Marshal and his competent team, plot to sell government secrets
Starring:
Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Irene Jacob, Robert Downey Jr.
Synopsis:
In this sequel to THE FUGITIVE the great U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) meets his match when he and his team of deputies are assigned to catch a dangerous fugitive federal agent named Mark Sheridan (Wesley Snipes), who is suspected of killing two federal agents and selling American government secrets.
Marshal Gerard immediately gets suspicious when he notices that, for a ruthless killer on the lam, how come Sheridan keeps going out of his way not to hurt anybody? And why have the Feds assigned a suspicious federal agent (Robert Downey Jr.) to keep tabs on Gerard's team and trail the marshals wherever they go?
Will Gerard catch Sheridan? Will Sheridan be able to evade the cops? Will everyone finally figure out what's really going on?
Opinion:
This is a passable chase movie, following the formula of THE FUGITIVE. There's a great plane crash in the beginning (it was an overturned bus in THE FUGITIVE), and a spectacular scene where Sheridan is chased by the Marshals to the top of a tall nursing home (it was the top of a tall dam in THE FUGITIVE) and must make a breathtaking escape. Gerard and Sheridan have a good fist fight as well.
The dialogue is sharp, and even side characters such as the airplane pilot are well acted. The chases are exciting, and the special effects are good. I especially loved Sheridan's daring escape from the top of the nursing home.
There are some glitches in the story. For example Sheridan's girlfriend Marie (Irene Jacobs) goes to a locker at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, removes a dark, important-looking bag and sneaks it to Sheridan, but the bag's mysterious contents are never revealed. Another time, a captured crook implies that someone higher up is behind the selling of government secrets, but he refuses to reveal who the mastermind is. And we still aren't sure if the real mastermind is caught by the movie's end. Finally, U.S. MARSHALS would have a sharper dramatic edge to it if - - as in THE FUGITIVE - - the plot allowed us to know right away that some grave injustice were about to be done.
These nagging details take away from an otherwise entertaining movie, but you know what they say about sequels.
Reviewed by David Sunga
March 6, 1998
Copyright © 1998
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