Better when called "24"

While watching "The Sentinel," you will feel like you have already seen this film before. At first I thought this feeling was because previews for "Sentinel" made it look like a "24" rip off. \n So I went into the theater figuring that, on the up side, if it was like "24," then surely "Sentinel" would be entertainingly suspenseful and Keifer Southerland would be at his "Jack Bauer" best. \n On the down side, I was aware as ever of the unfortunate fact that thinly veiled rip offs of popular TV shows rarely make spectacular films. \nWatching a "24" like movie could never be as satisfying as watching "24." It's similarity to the show would only serve to remind me that I was not watching the show or an actual movie version of the show. It would be the designer imposter handbag of films. \nActually, while 'Sentinel" deals with topics common to "24" (the intersection of political, professional and personal lives, assassination threats, ill advised affairs...), it is distinct from the show, at least in that Keifer Southerland's role is smaller than you might expect. He plays a man with a similar job, but an opposite personality than that of Jack Bauer. \n"The Sentinel" is much more concerned with Michael Douglas's character. Douglas, while still looking his age, has gotten back into shape. As it turns out, Douglas can convincingly play secret service agent Peter Garrison, who risks life and limb to prevent the President or the First Lady from being assassinated: a task that is, of course, complicated by troubles of his own. \nDouglas gives a solid, if uninspiring, performance. As the First Lady, Kim Bassinger almost manages to shed her "8 Mile" trashy mom aura. The film's other female star, Eva Longoria, who plays Keifer Southerland's inappropriately dressed trainee, is minimally significant to the plot.\nFilms like "The Sentinel" are entertaining a single time, as you watch and discover the secrets and plot twists (even when they are unoriginal and predictable, as they are in this case) that carry the story along. And the film does have a unique spin, as it deals with a presidential assassination plot involving a traitor inside the secret service. \nBut other than that, it feels unusually indistinct from every other film I have seen about a conspiracy. This is probably why it is kind of boring. The film knows it is boring, as evidenced by the images of threatening letters and creepy voiced threats that are inserted between scenes as desperately obvious attempts to build suspense.