Kiefer Sutherland: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

3. David Breckinridge - The Sentinel

There is very little to recommend of The Sentinel, least of all the performances, which are bland and interesting. Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland co-star in this "political thriller" about two Secret Service Agents who are drawn into a conspiracy against the one man they've sworn to protect - the President of the United States. Whether on purpose or by accident, Sutherland channels a less experienced Jack Bauer to little effect. Those who suspect that the actor can be frequently forgettable will be happy to know that they can this as a case study. The problem, ultimately, then, is that Sutherland isn't doing anything different here from his Jack Bauer thing - and given that he's playing a government agent, the two make for an easy comparison. But whereas Sutherland seems switched on and enthused whenever he plays Bauer, here there's a whiff of autopilot, almost as if at the audition a producer said to him: "You're basically going to play a Jack Bauer type character. Nothing you haven't done before." It probably does help matters that the dialogue here is awful and everyone sounds ridiculous.