Let’s be real for a second. Most sequels suck. They usually just take the original, change the wallpaper, and hope you don't notice the smell of desperation. But when we talk about the Tommy Lee Jones Wesley Snipes film U.S. Marshals, things get a bit more interesting. Released in 1998, this movie wasn't just trying to be The Fugitive 2. Well, okay, maybe it was a little bit. But it did something most sequels are too scared to do: it fired the main star.
Harrison Ford was gone. Dr. Richard Kimble had found his one-armed man and moved on with his life. So, Warner Bros. looked at the 1993 mega-hit and realized the real secret sauce wasn’t the doctor on the run—it was the guy chasing him.
Enter Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.
The Unlikely Birth of a Spin-off
By the mid-90s, Tommy Lee Jones had basically perfected the "grumpy guy who is way too good at his job" persona. His Oscar win for The Fugitive made him a household name. It’s kinda wild to think that a supporting character got his own $45 million (some reports say $60 million) blockbuster.
But you can't have a chase movie without someone to chase.
Wesley Snipes was at the absolute peak of his "cool guy in a leather jacket" era. He hadn't even done Blade yet, but he was already the king of mid-budget action. In this film, he plays Mark Sheridan (or Roberts, or Warren—the guy has a lot of names). He’s not a soft-spoken doctor like Kimble. He’s a former CIA operative and Force Recon Marine.
Basically, he’s a professional.
And that changes the whole vibe. When Gerard chases Kimble, it’s a cat chasing a mouse. When Gerard chases Sheridan, it’s a wolf chasing a lion. Honestly, the stakes feel different because you know Snipes can actually win a fistfight.
Why the Tommy Lee Jones Wesley Snipes Film Works (and Where it Trips)
The plot is classic 90s conspiracy. Sheridan is framed for two murders at the UN in New York. There’s a plane crash instead of a train crash. There’s a swamp instead of a dam. You’ve probably seen the "Anatomy of a Plane Crash" featurette if you grew up with the DVD—it was a huge deal back then.
The plane crash is actually a technical masterpiece. Director Stuart Baird, who was a legendary editor before he started directing, knew exactly how to cut a sequence for maximum anxiety. They used a real Boeing 727. They dragged it through the dirt. It feels heavy and terrifying in a way that modern CGI just doesn't.
The Robert Downey Jr. Factor
Before he was Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. was in a very strange place in his career. He plays Special Agent John Royce, a DSS agent forced onto Gerard’s team.
Downey Jr. has famously said he hated making this movie. He once told an interviewer he’d rather wake up in jail than go back to the set of U.S. Marshals. You can kinda see it in his performance. He’s smarmy, he’s wearing a bright yellow vest for half the movie, and he feels like he’s in a different film than everyone else.
But weirdly? It works.
His friction with the rest of the marshals—Cosmo (Joe Pantoliano), Biggs (Daniel Roebuck), and Newman (Tom Wood)—adds a layer of "who can I trust?" that the first movie didn't have.
The Comparison Trap
You can't talk about the Tommy Lee Jones Wesley Snipes film without mentioning The Fugitive. Most critics in 1998 absolutely hammered the movie for being too similar. Roger Ebert gave it two stars, calling it "unconvincing and disorganized."
He wasn't entirely wrong.
The movie repeats the "man on the run jumps off a high thing" beat almost beat-for-beat. In the first one, it’s a dam. In this one, Snipes leaps off a building onto a moving Metro-North train. It’s a great stunt, but it feels like a cover song of a hit you already love.
However, looking back on it now, there's a certain comfort in that formula. We don't get these types of "adult" action thrillers anymore. Everything now is either a $300 million superhero movie or a $5 million indie. U.S. Marshals is that perfect middle ground where everyone is wearing slightly too-large suits and the guns sound like cannons.
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Box Office and Legacy
The film did okay. It pulled in about $102 million worldwide. It wasn't the cultural phenomenon that the first one was, but it solidified Tommy Lee Jones as a leading man who didn't need a co-star to carry a film.
It also gave us one of the best "Tommy Lee Jones yells at people" performances ever.
"I want a permanent residence, a pet, and a husband for every one of you!"
The dialogue is snappy, even if the plot is a bit of a mess. By the time we get to the grain freighter in the finale, you’ve basically stopped caring about the Chinese spy conspiracy and you’re just there to see Jones and Snipes face off.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch
If you’re planning to revisit this 90s staple, here is how to get the most out of it:
- Watch the background: The chemistry between the Deputy Marshals (the "merry men") is actually better here than in the first film. They feel like a real team that has spent too much time in government vans together.
- Spot the locations: They shot a lot of this in Chicago and Southern Illinois. The "swamp" scenes were actually filmed at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee and around the Ohio River.
- Pay attention to RDJ: Knowing his history and how much he disliked the production adds a hilarious layer of "I don't want to be here" to his character that actually fits the role of an arrogant DSS agent perfectly.
- Check the tech: The 90s surveillance tech is a trip. Beepers, giant cellular phones, and "high-tech" floppy disks. It’s a time capsule.
U.S. Marshals isn't a perfect movie. It's a loud, somewhat repetitive, and occasionally nonsensical action flick. But as a Tommy Lee Jones Wesley Snipes film, it’s a masterclass in star power. It’s the kind of movie you stop on when you’re flipping through channels on a Sunday afternoon and end up watching until the very end.
If you want to see the 90s action formula at its most polished and professional, this is the one. Grab some popcorn, ignore the plot holes regarding the UN security cameras, and just enjoy the chase.
To dive deeper into 90s action history, look into the production of the 727 crash sequence—it remains one of the last great practical plane stunts in Hollywood history.