- Michael Douglas is too old to be kissing people on screen, especially considering he looked like he was trying to suck Kim Basinger’s will to live out of her mouth.
- Eva Longoria didn’t irritate me. I know, I’m surprised too.
- Reason #59293 to join the Secret Service? Killer wardrobe. Smart suits and sunglasses are always in style.
- I wouldn’t want to be President (or married to the President) because I wouldn’t want people knowing where I am every second of the day. However, I would like a codename people can use to refer to me. The Prez was “The Classic”, which was sort of awesome.
- That obnoxious dude from Train 48 (short lived unscripted prime time Canadian soap opera) was one of the main Secret Service dudes. I used the word “dude” too many times in that sentence.
- I really appreciated that they referred to Toronto as “Toronto” and not “Toronto, Ontario” or “Toronto, Canada”. It’s a well known enough city that you can refer to it on its own just like New York or London or Berlin, and this is the first American movie I can recall ever doing that.
- It’s fun to see Toronto presented on film as Toronto and not masquerading as New York or Chicago. It’s even more fun that they actually used Toronto’s City Hall as the City Hall in the film.
- At the end they emerge from an underground tunnel and appear right beside the pond in Nathan Philip’s Square. I ask you… would Michael Douglas’ character, who had not been briefed on the details of the location, know how to navigate the godforsaken PATH system of underground walkways? Most people in Toronto don’t know their way around it! Actually, I’m not entirely sure that’s a PATH entrance, but it probably is.
- There was a nice shot of the Henry Moore sculpture outside City Hall.
- I nearly died when the one guy was asking about the security situation at the summit in Toronto and the other guy was like “It’s a nightmare, the Canadians are letting the protesters to get too close.” DAMN CANADIANS!!!1! Naturally, the subtext I read here was “Canadians love compromised security.” Combine that with the ease with which the would-be presidential assassins got out of Washington and into Toronto, I can’t help thinking they’re trying to get a small jab in there based on that whole ridiculous set of accusations during September 11 where CNN was all up in arms going “Canada is harbouring terrorists, Canada has a porous border and let them into our country” etc. I could be reading into it too much, because the film isn’t that smart.
The Sentinel
Standard “omg I’ve been framed by the Secret Service” political intrigue pseudo thriller fair, which is to say it’s generally entertaining.
IMDB Plot Synopsis A secret service agent is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the president. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the run from a relentless FBI agent.