US MARSHALS

The Birmingham Post (England); 4/24/1998

The first time you see Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as US Marshal Sam Gerard, he's dressed in a chicken suit. It's not a good sign. And sure enough this sequel to The Fugitive proceeds to live down to expectations.

This time round, the escapee is Wesley Snipes, a former CIA specialist wanted for killing two Diplomatic Secret Service agents. Unfortunately, Snipes really has little to do other than run a lot and provide exposition at regular intervals. And, since the formula dictates he has to be innocent, set-up in some high level dirty tricks double-dealing, process of elimination swiftly establishes supercilious DSS agent Robert Downey Jr, seconded to Gerard's team, as more than meets the eye murkiness.

With more film than there is story, and more story than there is character development, director Stuart Baird settles for action movie potboiler, setting off explosions or throwing in a car chase whenever narrative momentum hits another sticky patch

As the star, Jones naturally corners all the good one-liners, but this time his laconic, clipped, sourpuss delivery seems so selfparodying that you suspect the only thing he was really chasing was the paycheck