Superheroes aside, Hollywood is struggling to find the next action hero. Jet Li's Stateside career barely kicked off before he hung up his nunchakas, Vin Diesel has all but vanished and Jason Statham is already a self-parody (Crank is hilarious).

So it's up to the old guard to rejoin the fray. Forgetting the insurance considerations, this can be a risky policy as anyone who winced through Harrison Ford's arthritic efforts in Firewall (tagline: 'Indiana Groans') will testify.

Thankfully, Michael Douglas looks as though he can still be trusted with the safety catch off.

In his first major role in three years, he plays presidential bodyguard Pete Garrison, a true patriot who once took a bullet for Ronald Reagan.

Garrison's job is to look after the First Lady (Basinger) and he takes it very seriously. Very seriously.

All's well with the President's men (and women, like foxy new recruit Eva Longoria) until one of their number - played by actor-director Johnson, once of Homicide: Life On The Street - is murdered outside his home.

A reliable source gives Garrison the bad news: after 141 years, the Secret Service has its first mole. The task of unearthing the vile creature goes to Garrison's former best friend Breckinridge (Sutherland)... who now hates Garrison's guts.

There's a plot afoot to kill the president and the somewhat biased Breckinridge senses that Garrison is keeping something from his team.

He's right. Garrison is being blackmailed. His suspicious behaviour and inability to explain a ton of other incriminatory evidence leads Breckinridge to slap him with a treason rap.

Of course, it's a frame-up and Garrison has no choice but to give Breckinridge the slip. But if staying alive and exposing the real traitor wasn’t hard enough, he's also got to prevent his dirty little secret from getting out...

Efficiently executed yet mostly unremarkable, this would have made a greater impression had it strengthened the intriguing Douglas-Basinger dynamic.

Instead, it opts for telegraphed twists (you don't need to be a genius to identify the mole), routine action and Sutherland refusing to stretch himself as a starchier version of 24's Jack Bauer.

Like his character, The Sentinel does most things by the book.

Elliott Noble