Taglines: The cop who won’t stop is back. But this time he’s chasing down a lot more than a fugitive.
U.S. Marshals movie storyline. In New York, security cameras in a United Nations parking garage record two Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents attempting to intercept a briefcase exchange between two men. One man kills the agents; the other escapes with top secret information.
In Chicago, months later, police arrest tow truck driver Mark Warren for possession of an illegal handgun and discover he is federal fugitive Mark Roberts, wanted for double homicide. Roberts boards a prisoner transport aircraft back to New York, sharing the flight with Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard, who is escorting another prisoner.
A Chinese prisoner armed with a zip gun tries to kill Roberts mid-flight but in the struggle, the bullet pierces a window, depressurizing the cabin and sending the prisoner to his death. The plane makes an emergency crash landing in Southern Illinois, where Roberts flees and Gerard issues a manhunt for the escapee. DSS Director Bertram Lamb reveals that Roberts’ fingerprints ID him as the killer of his DSS agents and assigns DSS Special Agent John Royce to join Gerard’s team to hunt Roberts. Gerard inspects Royce’s firearm and dismissively insists Royce replace it with a Glock.
After fleeing to New York City and securing money, weapons and fake identification, Roberts surveilles Chinese diplomat Xiang Chen, the other man from the parking garage. In Chicago, Gerard and the Marshals pursue several leads, including Roberts’ girlfriend Marie Bineaux. Roberts secretly contacts Bineaux to explain that he secretly worked for the government and was ambushed during a routine exchange, killing the men before realizing they were DSS agents. The Marshals track the airplane mechanic who was bribed to hide the zip gun and discover too late that he has been murdered by Chen.
Gerard acquires the surveillance footage of the murders and discover Roberts killed the agents in self-defense and was wearing gloves; thus he could not have been identified by fingerprints at the scene as Lamb claimed. Confronted with the evidence, Lamb admits that Mark Roberts is in fact Mark Sheridan, a former Force Recon Marine, who was working as an unofficial operative for the government. The DSS is investigating a mole within the U.S. State Department selling covert secrets to China, believed to be Sheridan. The agents were tailing Chen, a Chinese intelligence agent who was the contact between China and the mole, but when they tried to intercept the exchange, Sheridan killed them and fled.
U.S. Marshals is a 1998 American action crime thriller film directed by Stuart Baird. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Roy Huggins and John Pogue. The film is a sequel to the 1993 motion picture The Fugitive, which in turn was based on the 1960s television series of the same name, created by Huggins.
The story does not involve the character of Dr. Richard Kimble, portrayed by Harrison Ford in the initial film, but instead the plot centers on United States Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard, once again played by Tommy Lee Jones. The cast features Robert Downey, Jr., Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, and LaTanya Richardson, several of whom portrayed Deputy Marshals in the previous film.
U.S. Marshals premiered in theaters in the United States on March 6, 1998, grossing $57 million in its domestic run. The film took in an additional $45 million through international release for a worldwide total of $102 million. The film was generally met with mixed critical reviews.
U.S. Marshals (1998)
Directed by: Stuart Baird
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr., Irène Jacob, Joe Pantoliano, Kate Nelligan, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Michael Paul Chan, Patrick Malahide
Screenplay by: Roy Huggins, John Pogue
Production Design by: Maher Ahmad
Cinematography by: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Film Editing by: Terry Rawlings
Costume Design by: Louise Frogley
Set Decoration by: Gene Serdena
Art Direction by: Bruce Alan Miller, Mark Worthington
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some scenes of violence and brief language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 6, 1998
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