Summary
Robert Downey Jr’sU.S. Marshalsis a follow-up to a classic Harrison Ford thriller, buthe truly detested working on it. Robert Downey Jr’s talent was obvious from an early stage, be it for his harrowing turn in 1987’sLess Than Zeroor his Academy Award-nominated work inChaplin. Unfortunately, addiction issues began to overshadow his work in the late 1990s.Downey Jr staged the ultimate acting comebackduring the 2000s, fronting a range of great movies likeKiss, Kiss, Bang, Bangand the originalIron Man.
When he accepted his Oscar for Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimer, it felt like Downey Jr’s career had come full circlefinally. Putting his MCU outings to one side, there aren’t many traditional action films on theRobert Downey Jr movie CV. There’s the utterly forgottenDanger Zonefrom 1996 with Billy Zane or hisSherlock Holmesduology. One of the most prominent is 1998’sU.S. Marshals, where he plays a DSS agent chasing a fugitive alongside Tommy Lee Jones' Sam Gerard.
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$368 million
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$102 million
U.S. Marshalsis the sequel/spinoff to Harrison Ford’sThe Fugitive, with the story centering on Jones' Gerardand his returning team of marshals. This angle makes sense, considering Jones’Fugitiveperformance was so acclaimed it earned him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Since it would have stretched credulity to have Ford’s character on the runagain, the decision was made to focus on Gerard chasing down a brand new fugitive, played by Wesley Snipes. This results in much running, shooting and crashing.
Sadly, the film is a lame thriller that grossed considerably less thanThe Fugitivedid. For his part,Robert Downey Jr truly hated working onU.S. Marshalsand has given some acidic comments about it over the years. A choice quote can be found in Ben Falk’s bookRobert Downey Jr.: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid(viaFar Out Magazine), where the actor said he would “rather wake up in jail for a TB test than have to wake up another morning knowing I’m going to the set of U.S. Marshals”.
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Downey Jr, went further onU.S. Marshal’squality, calling it “Possibly the worst action movie of all time, and that’s just not good for the maintenance of a good spiritual condition.” The actor didn’t go into specifics about why he hated the experience so much, though in a 2006 chat withThe A.V. Club, he cited the lack of a good story and said “I don’t remember anything about U.S. Marshals except that we were running around and pretending like we could ever hold a candle to The Fugitive. [Laughs.]”
The Sweet Reason Robert Downey Jr Wanted To Appear In U.S. Marshals
The Star Wanted To Make The Sequel For A Personal Reason
While Downey Jr. was working pretty consistently during the late 1990s, his career wasn’t in great shape. It’s easy to see the star looking at playing the third lead in what seemed like a guaranteed hit and thinking it was a good career move. There was likely a decent payday involved too, but the reason Downey Jr was interested inU.S. Marshalswas so he could star in something he and his young son could enjoy together.
Quoted again inThe Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid, Downey Jr stated “I thought maybe there was something I was missing, and what I really needed to do was to be in one of those films that I love taking my kid to.“He instead found the experience of makingU.S. Marshalsand running around as “Johnny Handgun” very unfulfillingand tellingly avoided the genre for many years in the aftermath.
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The Fugitive
Cast
After being falsely accused of killing his wife, Dr. Richard Kimble goes on the run to find the real killer while a seasoned US Marshal hunts him down. The Fugitive stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard and was directed by Andrew Davis.
The issue withU.S. Marshalsis that it tries to replay the central idea - an innocent man chased by Gerard and his team - but it lacks the writing or Andrew Davis' gift for character and action.
The Fugitivewas directed by Andrew Davis, a filmmaker who proved time and again that he could take B-movie material likeUnder Siegeand spin gold out of them.The Fugitiveunderstands that chases and action are vital, but also that it needs strong characters at its coreto fully connect. Ford’s Dr Kimble is an everyman tossed into a nightmarish situation, and audiences are not only sympathetic to his plight, but they get to see him use his wits and smarts to escape seemingly impossible scenarios.
Harrison Ford’s Dr Kimble is never seen nor mentioned inU.S. Marshals.
It was also a stroke of genius to cast Jones as his nemesis, whose sole function in life is catching the good doctor regardless of his potential innocence. The issue withU.S. Marshalsis that it tries to replay the central idea - an innocent man chased by Gerard and his team - but it lacks the writing or Davis' gift for character and action.There are well-executed setpieces like the plane crash, but this feels like hollow spectaclecompared to the original. The sequel’s biggest sin is that it gives Snipes and Downey Jr so little of interest to do.
U.S. Marshalswastes Downey Jr as a humorless DSS agent, with most of his screentime spent running around, wearing an unflattering suit and pointing gunsat empty doorways. Little of his charm or charisma comes across, and the film doesn’t even attempt to play to his strengths. The actor is a little hard to labelU.S. Marshalsas one of the “worst action movies” ever, but following an instant classic likeThe Fugitive, it’s one of the most disappointing.
Source:Rotten Tomatoes,Box Office Mojo, Robert Downey Jr.: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid/Far Out Magazine,The A.V. Club
U.S. Marshals
U.S. Marshals is a 1998 action thriller directed by Stuart Baird, featuring Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard. The story follows Gerard and his team as they pursue a fugitive, played by Wesley Snipes, who escapes after a plane crash. The film serves as a follow-up to The Fugitive, introducing Gerard to a new, challenging manhunt filled with intense action and investigative twists.
