The Sentinel is a 2006 American political action thriller directed by Clark Johnson that has a veteran Secret Service agent (Michael Douglas) being suspected as a traitor after an attempt on the president's (David Rasche) life.
The movie also stars Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Kim Basinger, Martin Donovan, Ritchie Coster, Blair Brown, and Nancy Ajram.
It was released on April 21, 2006.
Tropes for the film:
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Aversion as a Secret Service agent is shot on his doorstep, and the Arlington PD initially assumes that he didn't have time to get the safety off. Dave says that Secret Service agents only pull their gun out when they absolutely intend to fire, so the dead agent would have released the safety while drawing his weapon.
- Bittersweet Ending: The President is saved, Pete is cleared of all charges, he and Dave have reconciled, and so have Dave and his wife. But Pete's being forced to retire because of his affair with the First Lady and the two will probably never see each other again.
- Black Dude Dies First: Charlie Merriweather, gunned down on his doorstep. Another African-American agent is shot during the final action sequence, but she might survive.
- Blackmail: Pete receives an envelope full of pictures of him and Sarah making love and a note demanding that he meet the sender at a certain time and place, though it isn't yet clear what the person wants.
- Bodyguard Betrayal: The Secret Service finds out that one of them is involved in a plot to assassinate the president, but they focus all their efforts on Pete because his story doesn't check out. This is due to him sleeping with the First Lady, though. The real traitor is doing this to protect his family. He does get a Redemption Equals Death ending, however.
- Bulletproof Vest: Pete turns out to be wearing one when Dave shoots him.
- Calling the Cops on the FBI: Almost literally. Pete follows who he thinks is the man blackmailing him, only for the guy to turn out to be an undercover FBI agent and for him to have stumbled into their own separate, unrelated investigation.
- Cold Cash: Pete finds a foreign operative who is part of the conspiracy, and when doing a search of his apartment, rips the magnetic seal around the refrigerator door and finds fake fake passports and bricks of cash inside the door.
- Creator Cameo: Director Clark Johnson plays Charlie Merriweather.
- December–December Romance: Pete and Sarah Ballentine are both over 50.
- Fair Cop: Jill Marin
- Frame-Up: Pete walks right into one when it turns out that the coffee shop that the blackmailer invited him to was the site of an FBI stakeout. As well, Dave presents him with proof of a bank account opened in his name, receiving regular payments from those who want to kill the President.
- Hypocrite: Dave warns a group of agents to be prepared to shoot Pete if necessary. When the time comes, he can't do it (though he tries initially).
- Informed Ability: Jill Marin is a Cunning Linguist, according to her application, but she only uses her language skills briefly, in one scene.
- Lie Detector: The agents are subjected to this when word gets out that there's a traitor among them. Pete fails, which is one of several pieces of damning evidence against him.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Dave and Pete's friendship fell apart because Dave believes that Pete had an affair with his wife. Not only did he not, Dave's wife didn't cheat on him at all.
- Mistaken for Evidence: Pete failing the polygraph is one of many reasons Dave thinks he's the traitor. But that's not why he failed, it's because he's nervous about his affair with the First Lady being discovered.
- Recycled Premise: It's essentially "The Fugitive meets In the Line of Fire".
- Redemption Equals Death: Montrose deliberately steps into the line of fire during the final action sequence.
- Red Herring: Dave's presented as Pete's antagonist from the beginning, so it's surprising that he isn't the traitor.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Dave believed that Pete was having an affair with Dave's wife, which led to their friendship dissolving. However, Peter was having an affair with a married woman — the First Lady.
- Shame If Something Happened: The Handler outright threatens Montrose when he tries to renege on their plan to assassinate the president.The Handler: We're not going to kill you. We're going to kill her. (holds up picture of Montrose's wife) And then we're going to kill her. (holds up picture of Montrose's daughter) And then we're going to kill her. (holds up picture of Montrose's other daughter)
- Wham Line: Dave to Pete:"You're being investigated for treason."
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Inverted. After Dave shoots Pete and realizes that he's wearing a bulletproof vest, Pete dares him to shoot him in the face, and Dave can't work up the nerve to do it.
