MovieChat Forums > The Sentinel (2006) Discussion > Someone please explain (Major Spoilers)

Someone please explain (Major Spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by neal2zod
32 replies | jump to latest

1) Did the informant try to get Michael Douglas killed or not in the mall? Or was the assasin there to kill the informant? I'm still confused whether or not he was a good or bad guy. And how did Douglas find his mother?

2) I don't understand - if the bad guys were trying to kill the President via the rocket and pin it on Douglas, why were they trying to kill him at EXACTLY the same time? Can't think of a better alibi for Douglas than "I was in that shootout at the mall"

2) Who exactly were the bad guys and how did Montrose "owe" them the favor of giving up the President?

3) Who took the photos of the affair? Douglas explains it was taken on a boat w/ a gyroscope to keep the camera steady (to show that they had big bucks to spend and were professionals) - was it just the 3-4 bad guys plus Montrose behind it and that's it?

4) Where did Douglas get the kevlar? we saw him leave the house in nothing but a buttondown and undershirt?

5) i'm confused at the whole "tell ONLY the first lady Montrose is the mole"/"the password is crystal" thing - what was going on??? Why would they only want her to know and not the 50 other agents in the room if they knew only one man was the mole? And why were Keifer and Michael running around yelling out "the password is crystal!!" at the other agents?? The hell did that mean?

6) I'm totally confused about the ending - the "leader" of the villains, ie the Kevin Smith looking dude - why did he make a huge spectacle of himself and basically go on a suicide mission to kill the president in front of everyone?? And how did Michael Douglas know he was bad? We hear a voiceover of the taped threats to the president and we see a closeup of his badge, but how did Douglas know?

[–] Demarates 18 years ago

Yep, quite a few plot holes. But I can plug oe for you, the second 2).

The bad guys were former KGB agents who had intel on Montrose (not sure what) from the old USSR days. They were now employed by the president of some small ex-USSR state. Your next question would be : "Why did that president want the US president dead ?" I dunno.

Trece para siempre.

[–] killer_tray 17 years ago

ever since the US came to be, someone has always wanted the US president dead lol

[–] LocalHobbit 18 years ago

I'm pretty sure the crystal part was to get the radios back on. and only the president and the first lady know that password. I think he wanted the first lady to know because she would probably believe him and maybe the agents wouldnt? im not sure. But at the end- Michael Douglas knew from the picture of the guy from the passport he found in the refrigerator. He also looked suspicious and although douglaus wasnt positive he was bad- better kill him than the president. like a better safe than sorry kind of deal.

I hope that helped a bit.

[–] ryanstewart_uk 18 years ago

Crystal was the word to tell them to stand down and receive orders, they told the first lady because if it came from her they would know it was a proper order not that he had just discovered it from an agent.Also they told her the mole so they could get her to safety (which was a complete failure)by getting her to the other escape point. They also could not get the word to all agents about the mole because he took the radios out as part of his deal. So there was no need to tell just a few because if they come up against any secret service resistance they say the password and they stand down and recieve there orders. As for the bad guy at the end the tape threats and the showing of the badge I feel this is for us stupid movie goers to say hear comes the bad guy. He only realises that he is the bad guy because he is trained to spot the threat as the scene with the guy outside the school is meant to reflect. It just badly directed and in my view such a waste with the talent they had.

[–] ajs47 18 years ago

Badly directed? Clark Johnson did not write the screenplay. He did an excellent job with the material he had to work with.

[–] neal2zod 18 years ago

Well, I don't think even Orson Welles could save this movie from it's screenplay, but the directing was also terrible. There was no tension, the action scenes were "meh". I couldn't even tell who the hell was shooting who in that dark staricase/hallway! Last action scene this incoherent I saw was in...Johnson's own SWAT, where i had no idea the train ran over that guy until the 3rd time i saw it.

[–] timoteo-2 18 years ago

Totally agree, I really wanted those couple of hours back from my life. I came on here to see how it was rated (personally I think it should be in the fives), and low and behold I see it is the same guy who directed the craptastic S.W.A.T. -- one of the few movies I have ever stopped watching partway through because the stupidity of the directing and script annoyed me so badly. He is inept -- I can't believe he gets to make major Hollywood movies. Must be nice to have almost zero talent and get a huge budget plus top-notch actors. Wow. *sigh*

[–] ajs47 18 years ago

If you think Johnson has no talent, maybe you should see his film "Boycott", his pilots for "The Wire" and "The Shield" (which earned him an Emmy nomination), then you might be able to see what he can do with really good screenplays. SWAT was his opportunity to make his first big budget Hollywood movie, so he took it. Same with "The Sentinel". Hopefully, one day he'll be able to make the kind of movies he would like to make--with good screenplays.

[–] kjoib 18 years ago

ditto. I'm turning it off more than halfway through, no need to waste an additional hour, haha, I'd rather watch the surreal life.

[–] DonCor 18 years ago

4) Where did Douglas get the kevlar? we saw him leave the house in nothing but a buttondown and undershirt?

he just got back home when kiefer and eva came to the door, so he would still have it on from work.

[–] comeonfhqwhgads 18 years ago

4) Kevlar

I agree with DonCor. We saw him adjust his kevlar under his shirt when he got home, but we never saw him remove it before Kiefer showed up.

[–] philip_batalion-1 18 years ago

1. The informant ran when he saw the asassin when douglas saw him, the assasin started the shootout when he heard the other SS officer talking over the radio. The assasin was most likely there to kill the informant.

2. They werent trying to pin it on douglas at all, he was being blackmailed by someone else, which is why he failed the lie detector and subsequently the investigation started. However they never explain the bank accounts.

2 again: Montrose was a KGB agent who joined the SS 20 years ago, he mentions this, since then the USSR was disbanded, and so was the KGB, wo he had to live his role in the US, and probably figured he was safe. Until these badguys came to him.

3. Whoever was blackmailing him took the pictures, most likely it was the cartel that was mentioned a couple times in the movie, which is also who the bank accounts were supposedly with also.

4. This has been explained.

5. Douglas wanted her safe, because he loved her, and he knew that she was the only one who would trust them, Crystal as described is the password to standown from the President or First Lady.

6. Douglas notices the security badge/pass the guy is wearing. He saw this badge previously when he discovered it in the fridge door of the baddie's house. This is how he knew he was the bad guy. The bad guy basically took the mission into his own hands to kill the Pres, thats why he came out in the whole fray.

[–] nmare 18 years ago

Montrose was a KGB agent who joined the SS 20 years ago, he mentions this, since then the USSR was disbanded, and so was the KGB, wo he had to live his role in the US, and probably figured he was safe.

That's not what he said. He said, he made a deal with the KGB 20 years ago. Meaning, he sold himself to the KGB, not that he was a KGB sleeper agent in the Secret Service.

[–] DuctTape-4 18 years ago

Actually the kevlar was not the traditional "bullet proof vest", it was actually in the flak jacket that Michael Douglas was wearing. And yes, he got it from his house. You know, the ones that say FBI or DEA on the back of them... They're lined with kevlar.

[–] bomblade 18 years ago

There are some problems with these answers. One of which is the guess work or assuming this is what happened.

1. I was happy you didn't try to answer how Douglas found the informant's mother, cause they gave you no reason.

"2. They werent trying to pin it on douglas at all, he was being blackmailed by someone else, which is why he failed the lie detector and subsequently the investigation started. However they never explain the bank accounts."

How do you know they weren't trying to pin it on Douglas? Why in god's name would they toss in some plot about a secret service agent being blackmailed, while they have a pretty major plot about trying to kill a President? It seemed like that's exactly what they were doing, pinning it on Douglas once the main SS mole had discovered they found a mole.

"2 again: Montrose was a KGB agent who joined the SS 20 years ago, he mentions this, since then the USSR was disbanded, and so was the KGB, wo he had to live his role in the US, and probably figured he was safe. Until these badguys came to him."

It never said he was a KGB agent. He simply stated he owed them from something 20 years ago.

"3. Whoever was blackmailing him took the pictures, most likely it was the cartel that was mentioned a couple times in the movie, which is also who the bank accounts were supposedly with also."

Again, why put in this completely separate plot?

"4. This has been explained."

I can't particularly remember if he had a vest on when he left the office or not, but I can be pretty sure they don't wear vests when they're just sitting in their office. They aren't exactly the most comfortable things to wear.

"6. Douglas notices the security badge/pass the guy is wearing. He saw this badge previously when he discovered it in the fridge door of the baddie's house. This is how he knew he was the bad guy. The bad guy basically took the mission into his own hands to kill the Pres, thats why he came out in the whole fray."

The ending was just simply terrible writing and directing. I'm guessing he recognized him from an earlier explanation Keifer's character gave when examining the other dead SS agent (something about them being trained to recognize a threat, yet not one other agent noticed this guy). Why couldn't this bad guy explain why they wanted the President dead? They went through the trouble of blowing up a helicopter, which they would know where the missile came from and would have been able to track the bad guys but that's fine...all that trouble with the mole, with the blackmailing only to give up on your plan to be a suicide bomber. This guy wouldn't be able to pull out a gun without being taken down, he'd never get a shot off at the President..great plan bad guy who seemed to have an english type accent.

[–] nathe8890 18 years ago

I seriously didnt understand why the Canadian agents (or army) were shooting at them when they were trying to leave the G8 building??? It just doesnt make any sense!!

[–] masu_trinity 18 years ago

Wasnt it just the badguys wearing those outfits to blend in?

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Dreamwave-Sorcerer 18 years ago

Ok, let's just assume these former KGB Agents wanted to kill the President for whatever reason and then found out that their mole was close to be discovered (for the Secret Service knew there was a mole, though they didn't know who he was.)
So they tried to pin it on someone else... Michael Douglas' character in this case. But... the question that came just up in my mind is: 'How did they find out about him having an affair with the 1st Lady in the first place ?!'
I mean of course, they shot the pictures, but unless they already knew about this affair they would not have been there to do so.
Seems kinda strange to me. Can anybody explain !?

[–] emcque728 18 years ago

One of my complaints was that it seemed like only Michael Douglass was smart enough to wear kevlar on the job. His buddy just coming home from work got drilled in the chest, no kevlar. The agent who went with him to the mall got drilled in the chest. No kevlar. The agents who all got shot in the shootout at the end apparently weren't wearing either.

Seemed silly to me.