# U.S. Marshals (1998)

### reviewed by
Matthew Brissette

I do not know what to make of U.S Marshalls. I find myself in the unique position of hating having loved it. On one side , it's a pretty intense , pulse pounding movie. Unfortunately , it's many faults prevent us from really enjoying a potential coronary from all the ecxitement. Case in point , the image of Wesley Snipes swinging from a building and towards a moving train while a helpless Tommy Lee Jones looks on is firmly stuck in our memory. After all , when you've seen the commercial twelve dozen times , it is kind of hard to forget. In fact , i could have kept my eyes closed during the whole thing and still i would have known every little detail of what was going on.

    (Minor spoilers follow)

I know what you are thinking , that i am going to rant about how horrible the trailers and adds for this movie are. Wrong. However , i simply must know one very simple thing : since the train that Wesley lands on is going at , oh , ten miles per hour and that from Tommy Lee 's point of view he can keep track of the train for about , oh , 6-7 minutes and that our hero has his trusty radio at his side , a tool he can use to communicate with the , OH , twenty police cars beneath him...please , puh-leeze tell me why our hero just watches the fugitive make a hasty (snicker ) getaway when he has all the tools needed to catch him???

No matter how bad that sounds , i do not want you to get the impression that this is a bad movie , far from it. It's just one of "those" movies. The kind where you do not feel the need to bitch about it on the way home but you have this nagging suspicion that something is missing. What could it be?

The acting , perhaps? Let's examine this aspect of the flick.

I am now even more certain that Tommy Lee Jones is god. Or at least , the voice of god. I am quite certain that when i step through the pearly gates , Tommy Lee Jones will be there to greet me , dressed in a white robe and glowing like a christmas tree. Or maybe , with that tough but grampa like voice , he'll say "Welcome to heaven , young man." Because for some reason , he cannot help but call everybody in the movie either "kid" or "young man".

    I mean , he's not that old...

While he will not be winning an oscar this time , his performance is the movie's strongest point. You know this man has presence when he orders Snipes to turn around and you can barely stop yourself from obeying. Speaking of Snipes , an usually very energetic actor , i'm affraid to report that he is no Harrison Ford. ( Well , who is?) Or , for that matter , he is no Richard Kimble , the fugitive from the first movie.

At least Mr. Kimble was smart. Our boy Snipes makes several rooky fugitive mistakes. What kind of moron on the run (now there's a good title for a sitcom : Morons on the run ) makes contact with his girlfriend , the same woman who paid his hospital bill a couple of days ago. "Gee whiz , those pesky marshalls probably forgot to tap my girl's phone , heck , they probably will not go through all the trouble of following her day and night just in case she tries to meet with me , no sirree!"

Despite these massive flaws , several impressive stunts , action sequences and a good score redeem , to some small degree , the movie. I'm glad i saw U.S Marshalls , i liked U.S Marshalls but it will not be the first movie i rent the week it comes out on video.

Rating : 2 and half stars out of 4 for Tommy Lee Jones in a chicken costume ( don't ask ) , several "holy shit i cannot believe how kool that was" , Tommy Lee Jones in full bad ass mode and one very " saw that one coming a mile away" ending.

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