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adamwatchesmovies · 3 years

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U.S. Marshals (1998)

U.S. Marshals is a spin-off of The Fugitive and if you compare the two, the original comes out on top. That doesn’t make this follow-up a bad film. The picture does everything right, but my being different, it becomes more conventional. Is that enough to dismiss a film with an entertaining plot, likeable characters, great performances, and spectacular bits of action? Not in my book.

When Mark Warren (Wesley Snipes) is arrested for an illegal weapons possession charge, he is linked to the murder of two government agents and sent on a plane to New York for sentencing. When an assassination attempt on Warren causes the plane to crash, he goes on the run. U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his team, accompanied by Special Agent John Royce (Robert Downey, Jr.) begin tracking the fugitive.

There’s no way Harrison Ford’s Dr. Richard Kimble would get framed for a murder and go on the run AGAIN but do you know who would get caught up in a big, exciting action plot? The U.S. Marshals who were after him. I wish more sequels would do this, particularly when they feature memorable characters like Sam Gerard and his team. It’s engaging because the characters we follow are fun. Every one of the U.S. Marshals is well developed, entertaining, likeable, and memorable. When they’re put in peril, you care about more than just Gerard. You care about Cosmo (Joe Pantoliano), Biggs (Daniel Roebuck), Newman (Tom Wood), and Cooper (LaTanya Richardson).

Written by Roy Huggins and John Pogue, the plot is nice and twisty. Snipes has a good number of big stunts and the mixes things up by adding Robert Downey, Jr.'s character on the team. It’s a great action movie that suffers because you can’t help comparing it to The Fugitive. That film spun cinematic conventions on their head. Instead of the guy on the run being an action star, he was just a regular guy who used his skills as a doctor to get the info he wanted. Instead of having the most obvious mystery (did he kill his wife?) as a hook to keep you interested, it made the entire film into a physical and mental hunt. The clues were not obvious except in retrospect. It’s a classic of the action genre. U.S. Marshals isn’t. It is more predictable in the sense that Wesley Snipes is capable of getting into gunfights and of jumping onto moving vehicles to get away; his involvement in the mystery is handled in a familiar way; the conclusion takes you by surprise, but it isn’t reinventing the wheel. If you take it on its own, it’s terrific. As a sequel, it’s a worthy follow-up by doing everything right.

U.S. Marshals excels at many things. It’s fast-paced, keeps you on your toes, features great special effects, and memorable stunts. The performances are excellent. In many action films, the characters are secondary. They’re tools to get us from one explosion or revelation to the next. That’s not the case here. It doesn't matter what these characters are doing; you'll be gripped. The biggest disappointment is not that U.S. Marshals isn't as good as The Fugitive - few pictures are. The letdown is that this picture didn’t get a sequel. (On VHS, September 30, 2016)

#U.S.Marshals #TheFugitive #movies #films #MovieReviews #FilmReviews #StuartBaird #RoyHuggins #JohnProgue #TommyLeeJones #WesleySnipes #robert downey jr.#JoePantoliano #KateNelligan #IreneJacob #1998movies #1998Films

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