An ultimately futile attempt to make lightning strike twice, this so-called spinoff from 1993's blockbusterThe Fugitive avoids the label of "sequel" by forging ahead without the first film's star, Harrison Ford. The idea is to showcase the return of Tommy Lee Jones in his Oscar-winning role as tenacious U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard, this time testing his mettle against a covert government operative (Wesley Snipes) accused of murdering two secret service attachés. Unfortunately, Jones and the entire cast have been trapped in a rambling plot, and the underdog status that made Ford such a compelling hero is sacrificed to an evenly matched and eventually tiresome game of cat and mouse, with a villain whose identity is far too predictable. With no dramatic buildup and several superfluous characters to distract its focus, the film's momentum plays out like a rote exercise compared to the high stakes of the earlier film.--Jeff Shannon
It's not really THAT bad.......really! People keep saying this movie sucks because it doesn't match up to "The Fugitive". Well, it doesn't; let's get that out of the way now. But that doesn't mean that it isn't a decent film. The highest points for me were the sequences with the whole "team" of Marshals, so to speak. The chemistry between Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his cohorts makes those scenes particularly fun. Snipes and Joe Pantoliano--whom you may remember from "The Matrix"--also give good performances. The downsides are--as everybody else will tell you--an occaisonally overwritten script, and a conclusion that makes you think--not in a provocative way, but in that you didn't understand what the hell happened at first. Nonetheless, "U.S. Marshalls" is an above average film worth seeing at least once.
"U.S. Marshals" has its moments but ultimately unsatisfying The idea of making "U.S. Marshals" was not a bad idea. After all, Tommy Lee Jones had won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard in "The Fugitive," basically because he stole every scene he was in, whether it was with Harrison Ford or somebody else. Not only was this was one of those "roles of a lifetime" for Jones, there was also the fascinating dynamic between Gerard and his eccentric cadre of assistants. So putting together a sort of "sequel" around these characters made sense, as well as giving the film its title. The only question them would be coming up with a script.
The screenplay by first time screenwriter John Pogue follows the lead of "The Fugitive" by having Gerard suddenly find himself in the pursuit again of an innocent man (not that this becomes clear to Gerard until late in the film). The key differences from the first film is that the character being pursued, played by Wesley Snipes, is some sort of government super spy instead of a naive doctor, and Gerard is saddled with a government special agent, played by Robert Downey, Jr. The story line has to do with an international intrigue where not only Gerard does not know what is going on, but the audience is left in the dark as well. Then, to add insult to injury, this time it is Snipes that is doing the scene stealing.
Ultimately, I think it is the convoluted plot that gets in the way of this film working as well as "The Fugitive." This is a film that should be about the characters, especially the rest of Gerard's groups, but instead you keep trying to figure out what is really going on. In fact, this time around that question ends up overwhelming Gerard's attempts to track down people. Besides, "U.S. Marshals" is one of those films where the big surprise twist does not surprise anybody. This is why the film ends up being so unsatisfying, which is unfortunate because if this film had clicked it could have been a decent little franchise. But instead of focusing on the characters there was a concerted effort to try and top "The Fugitive" which only ends up making it something of a mess, which is why this movie ends up being so unsatisfying, Besides, we had such high expectations for these characters and cast.
Falls a bit short... Supposed to be a sequal to the amazing movie 'The Fugitive'...it falls a bit short in comparison. Tommy Lee Jones is still as sassy as ever in U.S. Marshals - but it's a bit too predicable. Still has some good suspense - which I do enjoy.
