I avoided this for years because it looked like a useless remake. However, I had forgotten that I thought The Fugitive was a useless remake of the TV series until I was dragged to it and found
a fine, suspenseful feature filled with a plethora of colorful characters. So, I should have been tuned in more to my own personal history, but so it goes
.I now have watched U.S. Marshalls a number of times, and I have to say the two companion films match each other in quality.
The pacing is fast without being frenetic. The use of repetition, i.e., recurring motifs such as Kimball diving off a dam to safety & Sheridan swinging down to hop a commuter train, work well though they could have been disastrous. The large cast is compelling down to the smallest roles (similar to The Fugitive in that regard). Jones, Snipes, and Downey all show range in their parts
Downey, as always, illustrates why he is one of the best of his generation. And some of the secondary roles shine, in particular Tom Wood as Deputy Marshall Noah Newman. He receives more screen time than in the predecessor; and he makes use of it well. He has one of "those acting moments" in a confrontation with Downey's character: his intense expression of simultaneous fear & anger is a plum bit of acting chops. Like other IMDb readers, I wonder what has happened with this good actor. No screen credits since 2000. Stage work? Left the biz? If the former, and he's in NYC, then we'll probably see him on a Law & Order episode one of these days!
I recently found a DVD with tons of extras on it but I have not as yet delved into them. I look forward to doing that, as I do another viewing of the film.
