U.S. MARSHALS

U.S. MARSHALS offers a clever variation on the 1990s chase-movie formula. The plane crash, cross-country pursuit, international intrigue, and capable cast provide an interesting intellectual ride. The movie is also well directed and passably entertaining.

But the violence overwhelms those strengths. Killing and gunplay appear in nearly every scene, with more than a dozen killings and graphic shootings, stabbings, and other attacks. The review also counts 46 obscenities. The emotional and spiritual impact is deadening, and the movie can morally desensitize viewers.

That makes the theatrical trip a poor choice for families. Discerning adults who remain interested should wait for home, where they can control the experience.

After a fingerprint investigation reveals that Roberts (Wesley Snipes) is wanted for two murders, Chicago police arrest him. He is being transported with other prisoners when a violent incident brings down the plane.

Roberts escapes, sending Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) and his team across swamps, bayous, interstates, and New York. The pursuit becomes more complicated when Gerard learns that the fugitive is an ex-Marine Special Forces operative and former CIA operative with an international case to resolve.

Three stars means U.S. MARSHALS has real craft and some entertainment value, but it falls short of its predecessor, THE FUGITIVE. Tommy Lee Jones brings his trademark serious intensity, and the movie offers clever situational variations on the chase formula.

The plane crash provides spectacular damage and wreckage, while the pursuit moves through varied locations and complications. The story also takes viewers on an interesting intellectual ride. Still, the film is more bland and less engrossing than THE FUGITIVE, and its relentless violence drains its emotional impact.

The source describes U.S. MARSHALS as carrying a pagan worldview alongside internationalist, patriotic, and heroic elements. The story includes a fugitive seeking to regain his reputation as “righteous,” a law-enforcement team pursuing him, and a plot involving betrayal and an international spy ring. Those heroic and patriotic elements give the movie a moral framework, but the repeated killings and graphic violence distort that framework by making violence nearly constant and spiritually deadening.

The film also presents anti-smoking attitudes, according to the source. Its emphasis on justice, courage, and protecting people from being shot can align with biblical concern for human life and righteousness. Yet the movie’s extravagant gore-fest risks treating death as spectacle rather than as the grave consequence of sin. Scripture says, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

U.S. MARSHALS has enough clever plotting and competent filmmaking to earn three stars, but its graphic violence and foul language overwhelm its strengths. For your family, the answer is WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. Consider these instead.