Suffice it to say, The Sentinel features the year's biggest twist. The problem is that the shock comes within the first 30 minutes and upstages the presidential threat altogether (while ostensibly supplying the most threadbare of motives for one of the characters). Meanwhile, the movie goes barreling full-speed ahead in the wrong direction, as if the umpteenth film about a potential presidential assassination could possibly compare to, say, any given episode of 24.

Which brings us to the casting of Kiefer Sutherland as the other half of this intriguing two-hander. The part is roughly on par with what Sutherland does Monday nights for C.T.U., only with considerably less room for creative rule-breaking. His agent David Breckinridge (a name as boring as his character) is a by-the-book type tasked with finding the traitor in the Secret Service.

"He'll follow the evidence wherever it leads him," says Douglas' Pete Garrison (another name that seems cribbed from one of those books you buy in the airport, then leave on the plane). Garrison, of course, doesn't realize that Breckinridge's investigation will lead right back to him -- which is a pretty cool premise when you think about it.

"He is smarter and more experienced than all of you," Breckinridge barks at the search crew (which includes Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria, a Clarice Starling-like cadet whose role amounts to deflecting sexual harassment from her fellow agents). "He knows how you think, he knows how you operate, and he will use that against you."

Or not. The Sentinel isn't nearly as slick as it must have looked on the page. Those zingers are perfect fodder for a movie preview, but they just don't lead anywhere interesting on-screen.

Maybe it's the script, adapted by the same guy who made Ocean's Twelve such an impenetrable mess. Director Clark Johnson (S.W.A.T.) hasn't quite mastered the kind of elegant suspense, bridging scenes with tacky crazy-terrorist montages (news clippings, scribbles and imagery that vaguely implicates Arabic extremists).

Personally, I think it's the casting. Remember this exchange from In the Line of Fire? Clint Eastwood: "What do you see when you're in the dark and the demons come?" John Malkovich: "I see you standing over the grave of another dead president." Clint Eastwood: "That's not gonna happen."

When Dirty Harry says something's not gonna happen, you believe him. When Michael Douglas tries the exact same line (which he does in The Sentinel), you're not so sure. And when someone casts Kiefer Sutherland in the part he effectively plays week-in, week-out on TV, you have to wonder why anyone would settle for 108 minutes when you can watch 24 for free.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]