the sequel to the fugitive ( 1993 ) , u . s marshals is an average thriller using it's association with the fugitive just so it can make a few extra bucks . tommy lee jones returns to his role as chief deputy samuel gerard , the grizzly cop who was after harrison ford in the fugitive . this time , he's after fugitive mark sheridan ( snipes ) who the police think killed two fbi agents , but of course he's been set up , and when the police plane escort he ( and gerard ) are riding crashes , he makes a run for it , gerard not so hot on his tail . what follows is about 2 hours of action , brought to us by the director of executive decision ( 1995 ) , another film curiously involving a plane . when comparing this movie to the fugitive , the prequel is far superior . but even on it's own , u . s marshals is a pretty lousy movie . while the original was reasonably intelligent , and had a fugitive to root for , the audience feels strangely distanced from snipes fugitive , mainly because we know so little about him until way into the film's overlong running time . while the fugitive gave a little time to develop harrison fords character , u . s marshals is straight in there , pulling it's trump card ( the place crash ) almost immediately . to be honest , i couldn't care less if snipe's character got captured or not . snipes performance is average , and his character gets surprisingly little screen time ( considering he is the fugitive ) for reasons i'll explain later . tommy lee jones is as fine as ever , although his role is hardly a challenge . the sense of deja vu was overwhelming . i know it's the same role from the fugitive , but there is seemingly no attempt to develop his character from the last film . there's a few 'nudge nudge' references from the first film , but apart from that , nothing . nobody even mentions harrison ford in this movie . downey jnr is ok as fbi agent john royce who's roped into the chase , and sexy french actress irene jacob wanders in and out of the movie as snipes wife . nobody looks as if their having a good time , and all the performers are on autopilot . the supporting cast are o . k , but when it comes to performances , u . s marshals falls flat on it's face . it doesn't fare any better plot-wise , either . the film starts off with gerard trying to capture snipes , but then veers off into terrorists territory . as said above , the film is an normal , average terrorist thriller , seen a million times before , but is using the fugitive reputation to make it sound more professional . if this film wasn't the 'sequel' to the fugitive , this would probably go straight to video , or not even been made at all , because it's so average . and because of the film's plot changing it's course , snipes is almost forgotten apart , and hardly features in the movie . stuart baird , the director , is all right , but there's no particular scene that stands out . it's director is the usual action movie style . even the plane crash is sorely lacking in tension . the special effects are nice , especially the plane crash , and there's a good ( if very loud ) soundtrack by veteran composer jerry goldsmith . but in the end , u . s marshals suffers from an overwhelmingly lack of excitement . sure , it's loud and dumb , but in the end u . s marshals just ain't fun . bored performers and a lackluster plot and script , do not make a good action movie . overall rating= review by david wilcock web space provided by geocities
