Hey, remember The Fugitive? That was a good film, wasn’t it? Harrison Ford unjustly fingered for the murder of his wife and going on the run to prove his innocence. Tommy Lee Jones’ obsessive lawman stopping at nothing to bring him down. Joe Pantoliano wearing possibly the most 90s hairpiece in existence. Yep, it was all there under the shrewd eye of director Andrew Davis and it became a genuine highpoint of the decade as it gave Ford yet another iconic everyman to play and it pushed Jones and his distinctive bark into the A-list where the leathery old lunatic belonged.
However, some bright spark somewhere hit upon the idea that maybe a sequel should be cooked up and delivered to the masses, and so, in 1998, U.S. Marshals kicked in our door and started waving its badge about. But obviously the follow up couldn’t nail Harrison Ford with another crime he didn’t commit, so the spotlight swung from Dr. Richard Kimble over to Senior Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard and promptly set him on the heels of yet another dude on the run. Would this gambit work, or would this random sequel to a genuine hit prove to be nothing less than criminal?
While Samuel Gerard is in Chicago, going what he does best and arresting wrongdoers (in a chicken suit no less), axseemingly innocuous tow truck driver Mark Warren in injured in an automobile accident which lands him in hospital with minor injuries. However, after his brief stint in medical care is over, he’s suddenly arrested because Mark Warren is actually Mark Roberts, a federal fugitive wanted for the murders of two Diplomatic Security Service Agents and is quickly bundled onto a crowded prisoner transport flight that coincidently also sees Gerard hitching a ride.
In true, Fugitive fashion, a spectacular accident causes the plane to crash after another prisoner suddenly tries to assassinate Mark with a stashed firearm disguised as a pen and in the ensuing chaos, Mark manages hot-foot the hell out of the wreckage and go on the run through the swamps of Kentucky. Of course, this means that Gerard immediately snaps into rundown mode and gathers his usual team to get this murderer back behind bars where he belongs, but matter get noticably more complicated when some DSS high ups insist that one of their own, the impressively smug special agent John Royce, joins the team to help bring Mark in.
As the manhunt continues, it soon becomes apparent that Mark is part of a larger conspiracy that concerns top secret files, the Chinese Government and a whole bunch of shadowy deals that may even be too much for Gerard’s stubbon old ass to handle; but once again, it seems that the man he’s chasing may not be as villainous as he once suspected and that the true enemy may lurk elsewhere.
To be fair, while some of you may have denounced the concept of a sequel to The Fugitive straight off the bat as being an obvious cash grab, on paper the idea actually has merit. Ditching Dr. Kimble may mean that you’ve lost a powerful hook as Harrison Ford’s undeniable everyman energy was an important factor in making the first movie so accessible. However, Tommy Lee Jones’ sandpaper tongued, bullish marshal was undeniably the highpoint and the chemistry he had with his long suffering team meant that you were curiously as invested in the pursuers just as much as you were the pursued – therefore it makes perfect sense that a sequel would focus more on Gerard as he ran down yet another poor schmoe framed for a crime.
However, with U.S. Marshals, it soon becomes apparent that there’s a major flaw with this plan and it’s not too far off the same issue if you made a Pirates Of The Caribbean movie solely about Captain Jack Sparrow – the second the supporting characters becomes the lead, you tend to lose something that made him so special in the first place. Tommy Lee Jones’ ornery character only worked so effectively because it was the exact opposite of Harrison Ford’s more virtuous and open Kimble and in a way, Gerard acted as almost a surrogate “villain” until the real bad guys were revealed, however, when we make this guy the lead, that immediately removes a lot of the tension.
It also doesn’t help that that man they’ve chosen to replace Ford is Wesley Snipes, a man who somehow managed to even look close to indestructible in To Wong Foo, so any semblance of tension about whether he can dodge Jones’ clutches to clear his name all but vanishes. Yes, Ford played Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but he played them vulnerable and human – Snipes on the other hand played fucking Blade, a superhero that’s about as warm and fuzzy as a WWII sea mine and the film openly struggles to make the adjustment. Adding to its woes, it feels like Snipes’ character is deliberately kept rather vague in order to deliver some shocks about his true identity, but all it ends up doing is giving us a chase movie where the hero is constantly outmaneuvered by a fugative that we aren’t allowed to care about.
If you needed yet more proof that U.S. Marshals isn’t quite doing the job to the quality you’d expect, even the presence of a supremely punchable Robert Downey Jr. (still in the midst of his personal troubles) doesn’t manage to overcome the problems inherent within the basic format. I mean, it’s virtually impossible to put Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. in a film and have it turn out boring – but director Stuart Baird certainly seems to be trying. OK, that’s a little harsh, but it’s weird that a film with so many charismatic stars feels so bland and the moment the movie starts to focus on Snipes clearing his name, the plot becomes weirdly laboured.
However, that’s not to say that U.S. Marshals isn’t a fun, casual watch. Watching Tommy Lee Jones do his standard, impatient shit with anyone is always a joy to behold and the movie outdoors itself with a couple of the action sequences that include a gloriously protracted plane crash and a legitimately dangerous looking stunt where Snipes character swings from a building in order to hop on the roof of a passing train. It’s in these moments where the sequel aquits itself well, finding ways to change up the train crash escape and dam jump from the first film, but overall it’s the actually meat and potatoes of the chase that are noticably lacking.
Big and bold when it needs to be, U.S. Marshals nevertheless stumbles when it has to actually try and put some distance between itself and The Fugitive and try something new. Seeing as its practically impossible to deliver an unwatchable with some of the onscreen talent involved, the film proves to be enjoyable in spurts, but inevitable comparisons to its forbear means it’s locked in a supermax prison of disappointment that it simply can’t escape.
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We Have Issues 
It’s always understandable when an actor wants to reprise a role that earned him or her an Oscar nod or win (like Sigourney Weaver after Aliens and Johnny Depp after his first portrayal of Jack Sparrow). So we can be as intrigued enough by Tommy Lee Jones having another outing of the role that won him his Oscar. For an original film where even Harrison Ford could be outshined by what Jones could achieve with Gerard, maybe there was more to build on with U. S. Marshals. Also with the talents of Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr. added to the mix. I may not have enjoyed it as much as The Fugitive. But it impressed me enough for a story about the bonds of law enforcement. With Gerard’s question: “Why did you shoot that boy?” making him more memorable as a basically good man. Even when he is pursuing a falsely accused fugitive. Thank you for your review.
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