Review of U.S. Marshals (1998) by Roy G — 15 Jan 2011

It's an interesting idea to pull Tommy Lee Jones' character out of The Fugitive since he really was the most interesting thing in that movie. Of course; the problem then becomes how do you find a new way to deploy the character? The answer, apparently, is to play much the same movie again only this time with the much less charasmatic Wesley Snipes filling in for everyone's favourite victim, Harrison Ford.

Since Snipes isn't the focus, though; we need a bit more to grab on to for this to work. The procedural elements of watching the US marshalls work need to be beefed up; but it's all as light as Hollywood usually makes it. It wastes the talents of much of its cast (Robert Downey Jr. is in it, for goodness sake!) and relies on old, tired forumlas such as the conspiracy within the US marshalls to hide the truth and frame Snipes; blah, blah, blah... It all limps to two or three conclusions; each less interesting than the last. Tommy Lee Jones is, of course, great throughout.