The Sentinel (2006)

33% of critics liked it
(134 reviews)
46% of users liked it
(81,331 ratings)

A man who has devoted himself to serving the leader of the free world is accused of plotting against him in this thriller. Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is a veteran Secret Service agent who has had a long and distinguished career helping protect the president of the United States. David… More A man who has devoted himself to serving the leader of the free world is accused of plotting against him in this thriller. Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is a veteran Secret Service agent who has had a long and distinguished career helping protect the president of the United States. David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) is a fellow Secret Service agent who learned most of what he knows from Garrison and holds him in great respect. When intelligence data suggests that there is a mole within the Secret Service who is part of a plot to assassinate President Ballentine (David Rasche), Garrison launches an investigation to ferret out the rogue agent, and asks Breckinridge to go over the evidence with a fine-toothed comb. Breckinridge is shocked when the clues point to Garrison as the traitor within the Secret Service, but his sense of duty compels him to see that his former mentor is placed under arrest. Garrison eludes his captors and struggles to prove his innocence while tracking down the real conspirator and eluding the agents who were once his colleagues. As Breckinridge leads the search for Garrison, another ranking agent, Jill Marin (Eva Longoria) plays devil's advocate, convinced that Garrison couldn't possibly be the rat in the house. The Sentinel also co-stars Kim Basinger as the First Lady. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Clark Johnson
Written By: George Nolfi
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Apr 21, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Aug 29, 2006
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Critic Reviews

Bill Gallo, Village Voice
[The film] has more holes than Bush's war plan and employs less fluent English.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Nobody's better than Michael Douglass as playing that guy who makes that big mistake, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to atone for it.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
If you're going to make a movie with the same title as a second-rate horror film, it should at least be as entertaining as that second-rate horror film.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
A well-constructed and genuinely tense thriller.
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
If the movie had seized on the purely tacky melodramatic potential of the plot so far -- The Sentinel might have floated above its own silliness on bubbles of pure soap.
Justin Chang, Variety
A half-hearted exercise in political paranoia,The Sentinel unravels its wrong-man scenario with business-like efficiency and an impressively jittery visual scheme, but falls far short of providing visceral or emotional thrills.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Michael Douglas goes through the motions of playing an action man in this plodding and pedestrian political suspense thriller.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Decent thriller with crisp performances. Teens OK.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
An underwhelming political thriller.
Felix Gonzalez Jr., DVD Review
... it takes us inside the world of the Secret Service, who are generally given short shrift in favor of more visible political figures.
Felix Gonzalez Jr., DVD Review
Douglas possesses an everyman appeal that is used to good effect in this movie to keep the audience securely on his side.
Stefan Birgir Stefansson, sbs.is
way too predictible
Brian Tallerico, UGO
The fast-food of the genre - it "gets the job done" and fills you up, but the hunger for more will undoubtedly return sooner rather than later.
Frank Lovece, Film Journal International
A notch above most such throwaway thrillers.
Russ Breimeier, Christianity Today
If it weren't for the clout of its two leading men, The Sentinel would be nothing more than a made-for-cable or direct-to-DVD feature.
Joseph Proimakis, Movies for the Masses
full review in Greek
Joe Utichi, FilmFocus
Entertaining, certainly, and even the casual moviegoer will have seen worse this year, but this is one of those films you'll forget you've seen within six months.
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
It's somewhat predictable and uses many cliche devices, but it keeps the audience guessing at least part of the time.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Manu G

In 141 years, there's never been a traitor in the Secret Service.... Until Now. Saw it again! The movie is very good and it's very fun and the action scenes are very well done, this movie reminded me of the TV series 24. The acting was surprisingly good. Nice solid cast.… More
In 141 years, there's never been a traitor in the Secret Service.... Until Now. Saw it again! The movie is very good and it's very fun and the action scenes are very well done, this movie reminded me of the TV series 24. The acting was surprisingly good. Nice solid cast. Very recommended. Pete Garrison is a Secret Service Agent. Another agent wanted to talk to him but could at the time. Later the man is killed. One of Pete's informants tells him that there's a plot to kill the President and whoever is going to do it controls someone in the Secret Service. He believes it is this information that the other agent wanted to talk to Pete about. So an investigation is ordered and another agent, David Breckenridge, Pete's protégé is placed in charged. All agents are subjected to lie detector tests and Garrison fails but not because he's the one, but because he's been having an affair with the First Lady. Later more evidence is unearthed that incriminates Garrison even further which he says was planted. Breckenridge refuses to believe him because of some personal issues they have. So Garrison escapes and tries to find his informant, who's disappeared.
♥Robyn

Twenty years have passed since Secret Service agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) saved a Presidents life, as a conspiracy unfolds within the White House, he realises he might have to do the same again but this time there's evidence that he's behind the plot
Anthony L

The Sentinel has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese. That and the fact that I guessed 'who dunnit' (or who was gonna do it) fairly quickly should have been reason enough not to like it but, as it happens, I didn't find it that bad at all. A fun popcorn… More
The Sentinel has more holes in it than a slice of Swiss cheese. That and the fact that I guessed 'who dunnit' (or who was gonna do it) fairly quickly should have been reason enough not to like it but, as it happens, I didn't find it that bad at all. A fun popcorn thriller that's easy to watch.
xGary X

When a conspiracy to assassinate the president is uncovered and seems to implicate veteran agent Michael Douglas, he is forced to discover the true culprit while on the run from his former colleagues. Yet another in a long line of generic Hollywood conspiracy thrillers, The Sentinel… More
When a conspiracy to assassinate the president is uncovered and seems to implicate veteran agent Michael Douglas, he is forced to discover the true culprit while on the run from his former colleagues. Yet another in a long line of generic Hollywood conspiracy thrillers, The Sentinel basically plays out like Jack Bauer and son tracking down "terrorists" whose reasons for murdering the president clearly aren't worth explaining. I'm not the biggest fan of Douglas but he is experienced enough to be able to do this kind of thing whilst standing on his head and Sutherland is doing what he does best; in fact, for the second half when Kiefer is let off the leash to get 24 on his ass, it's actually pretty entertaining. Being a Hollywood thriller, it is also blatantly obvious who the traitor is pretty much as soon as he appears on the screen and Eva Longoria has little to do but run around with a gun looking hot but as a whole it is hardly inspiring, but didn't feel like a colossal waste of time either. Decent popcorn entertainment.
Lorenzo v

"In 141 years, there's never been a traitor in the Secret Service.... Until Now." A secret service agent is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the president. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the… More
"In 141 years, there's never been a traitor in the Secret Service.... Until Now." A secret service agent is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the president. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the run from a relentless FBI agent. <center>REVIEW</center> Aging actor Michael Douglas stars in "The Sentinel" (as in sentry or guard, not newspaper) as a Secret Service Agent in a film that revolves around a plot to assassinate the sitting President. Yes, Clint Eastwood walked in similar shoes in 1993's "In the Line of Fire", and with more satisfying results. Nonetheless "The Sentinel" is not just a derivative of Eastwood's film, but a whole slew of political thrillers shot in the Washington D.C. area. Douglas' film, though, does one better. "The Sentinel" is an overcomplicated thriller that deals not only with an assassination plot but with double-crossing, treason, White House infidelity, a tattered relationship between longtime friends, a rookie's first time out, as well as any number of twists that would likely give something away. "The Sentinel" has so many different plot lines on its plate at any given time it's amazing it didn't lose focus more often than it did. Even though "The Sentinel" was engaging, and occasionally puzzling, given the current political climate, and the precariousness of world events, a much more interesting and complex film about an assassination plot could have been made.
Jens S

Pretty decent thriller about a plot to kill the American president (played by David "Sledgehammer" Rasche, now if that isn't funny enough). While it adds not much new to the genre, uses ideas from movies like "In the Line of Fire" or "The Fugitive"… More
Pretty decent thriller about a plot to kill the American president (played by David "Sledgehammer" Rasche, now if that isn't funny enough). While it adds not much new to the genre, uses ideas from movies like "In the Line of Fire" or "The Fugitive" it is still pretty well done and combines a cast of good names. Kiefer Sutherland doesn't have more to do than channel Jack Bauer really and Michael Douglas is the innocent man on the run. That's entertaining, sometimes a bit rushed, sometimes not entirely believable and the ending isn't exactly a big shocker either, but never boring. There are worse ways to spend 100 minutes. Fans of the genre or the actors should be satisfied enough.
Candy R

Excellent thriller about a secret service agent (Michael Douglas) who is framed for a plot to kill the president. New role for Eva. Kiefer is gorgeous.
Cassandra M

It's been 19 years since Gordon Gekko used "Wall Street" to let us know that greed is good. Now, Michael Douglas takes the GG persona and morphs it into a Secret Service agent, Pete Garrison. Guess what? It works! This is a solid political thriller that kept me… More
It's been 19 years since Gordon Gekko used "Wall Street" to let us know that greed is good. Now, Michael Douglas takes the GG persona and morphs it into a Secret Service agent, Pete Garrison. Guess what? It works! This is a solid political thriller that kept me guessing. The detail work in showing the security precautions taken by the SS on behalf of the President and First Lady was likewise intriguing. All the leads were pretty good but, try as I might, I could not accept Eva Longoria as a Secret Service agent. Whereas Jodie Foster just made you suspend belief and really think she was FBI agent Starling in "Silence of the Lambs", you do not get the same feeling with Longoria. Nevertheless, this is a fun film, escapist entertainment with the Beltway as the backdrop.
Red L

Michael Douglas is a CIA agent who gets set up by one of his fellow agents. I saw it for the second time today and I maintain that if that is the best the CIA can do, the USA is in big trouble. But it was an exciting movie.
Al S

An explosive, riveting and gripping hold on to your seat, pulse-pounding full-throttle thriller. It packs a full clip of non-stop action and searing suspense at every corner. Michael Douglas and Kiefier Sutherland have never been better. These roles well fit for them seperating… More
An explosive, riveting and gripping hold on to your seat, pulse-pounding full-throttle thriller. It packs a full clip of non-stop action and searing suspense at every corner. Michael Douglas and Kiefier Sutherland have never been better. These roles well fit for them seperating Douglas from Gordan Gecho and Surtherland from Jack Baur. You wont know what hit you until the end of this great film. This proves thrillers can still be intelligent and character driven. Smart and well-crafted action sequences. It's The Fugitive meets In the Line of Fire.
Dean !

Not as good as I hoped it would be, but still entertaining.
Roy G

I worry about the U.S. Secret Service, if The Sentinel is any indicator of its collective ability.
Dean M

Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and sexy Eva Longoria are cool secret service agents as a truthful team-up in this thriller and investigate for a mole in the US Secret Service.
Mark E

24 crossed with the fugitive..best film michael douglas's done for a while..
Jose Z

I like this movie, great cast. Movie full of action, it keeps you on the edge of ur seat for hour an a half. It is like a two hour special of 24, and thats why its so good
Emily A

There was nothing very special about this movie. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it's just like every other spy movie and there was nothing that made this one stand out. It's like celery as a flavour. Or Canadian identity. It's there, but it's not… More
There was nothing very special about this movie. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it's just like every other spy movie and there was nothing that made this one stand out. It's like celery as a flavour. Or Canadian identity. It's there, but it's not too noteworthy.
Jon L

It is a really simple well done film that is fun as well as thought provoking.
Andy S

You've seen the vast majority of this movie before, even if you haven't. The cliched and mundane plot does the film no favors, and the acting is surprisingly weak considering the cast.
Mike N

This is really just an excuse to rate other cruddy-duddies I've somehow seen lately (mostly on the plane while reading). I went to Alabama last week. Saw Air Force One on the tarmac and had amazing BBQ (not all at once). Did you know they use potatoes the size of footballs and… More
This is really just an excuse to rate other cruddy-duddies I've somehow seen lately (mostly on the plane while reading). I went to Alabama last week. Saw Air Force One on the tarmac and had amazing BBQ (not all at once). Did you know they use potatoes the size of footballs and fill it with BBQ chicken and all the normal fixin's? It was like some sort of cholesterol grenade. What an amazing site. Will post pics of my Philippine adventures soon. Kama koo whatski! Olly goober schmookee toot! Mabuhay!
Jeff B

There is an amazingly deft and suspenseful political thriller about an aging Secret Service agent embroiled in an assassination plot while still harboring bitterness about an ex-President being shot on his watch. This film is called In the Line of Fire and stars Clint Eastwood. The… More
There is an amazingly deft and suspenseful political thriller about an aging Secret Service agent embroiled in an assassination plot while still harboring bitterness about an ex-President being shot on his watch. This film is called In the Line of Fire and stars Clint Eastwood. The subject of this review, however, is The Sentinel, an amazingly dull political thriller with about as much suspense as a sneeze moviegoers have felt coming on for days. In this PG-13-rated wannabe thriller, a veteran Secret Service agent (Michael Douglas) finds himself as the lead suspect in an assassination investigation by fellow agents (Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria) when knowledge of his affair with the First Lady (Kim Basinger) is leaked. Stocked full of modern television stars, Sutherland (24), Longoria (Desperate Housewives), and Douglas (The Streets of San Francisco) among them, the movie also shares the hurried dissolved pacing, paper-thin plotting, and color-by-numbers dialogue of a bad TV-movie. And no, dear reader, the inclusion of San Francisco, the early'70s cop show Douglas used as a springboard to moviedom, was no accident. In The Sentinel, everything new is old again. Douglas has relegated himself into a geriatric scenery-chewer, offering nary a glimpse of his former greatness in The China Syndrome, Wall Street, or even Basic Instinct. Bottom Line: Asleep on the watch.