The President's Man: A Line in the Sand

This The President's Man: A Line in the Sand (2002) turns out to be a sequel of The President's Man (2000) . At the beginning the new President's Man's Man rides a motorcycle over a green-screened fireball and drives past recycled footage from the first movie . Dealing with Robert Urich playing the new President who sends his right hand man McCord/Chuck Norris to take down a terrorist group . Norris is a U. S. president's highly classified secret agent who thinks it's time for him to retire and must find a fearless replacement to take over his extremely dangerous military missions . McCord has a daughter (Jennifer Tung) who is in charge of recruit's training and satellite's watching . When a band of Islamic of terrorists commits bloody acts , McCord goes into action and finds himself thrust head to the most dangerous assignments . Once he captures the terrorist leader , the no-good evil attempts to blow up Dallas . With the help of his trusty partner (Judson Mills) , Chuck sets out to save Dallas from total destruction. As they get a mission which has personal implications for Joshua . So they go , no mission is impossible.

This is a Chuck Norris recital , showing his portentous skills , containing action-packed , thrills , chases , fights , pursuits and loads of violence . Whereas the first flick got off to a strong start ; this follow-up goes off at the bottom of the barrel and slowly climbs its way upward . Chuck Norris along with Judson Mills demonstrate their qualities as action heroes on the fights against the largest-than-life enemies by means of punches , slaps , kicks , bounds and more leaps . Here Norris finds a strong colleague , Judson Mills , subsequently training him in all kinds of risked tests ; the problem is that the chosen one is a guy ever terrible , he somehow manages to have even less charisma than the other dude : Dylan Neal , who formerly held the role . I guess it wouldn't be so bad if Chuck had taken the reins and kicked some ass , in spite of it , Judson Mills also played a main role in ¨Walker Texas Rangers¨ along with Norris , the recently deceased Clarence Gilyard Jr. , Sheree J. Wilson and Nia Peeples . Unfortunately, Chuck mostly sits back and lets the other dude do most of the work. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if Chuck had taken the reins in his unfortunately, he mostly sits back and lets the other dude do most of the work. Chuck Norris gives his ordinary acting as Joshua McCord , an aging secret service operative who needs to train a younger man in his field and becomes involved into a no-holds-barred, kick-butt action mission. This action-thriller is an inferior Norris film , in fact Norris was far from his best period with hits , such as : ¨The Octagon¨ , ¨An eye for an eye¨ , ¨Forced vengeance¨ , ¨Lone Wolf MacQuade¨, ¨US Invasion¨, among others . Chuck Norris is familiar to fans worldwide as the star of action films such as Hitman (1991), Delta Force (1986) and Delta Force 2 (1990) , Missing in Action (1984) and its sequels, Firewalker (1986) and Sidekicks ( (1992). And he eventually working in television where has played the same character , Cordell Walker, in three different television series: Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Martial Law (1998) and Sons of Thunder (1999). Being accompanied by Judson Mills and the beautiful Chinese/American Jennifer Tung as Joshua's daughter and main liaison with the President of the United States . Adding other familiar secondaries , such as Robert Urich , Roxanne Hart, Joel Swetow, Thom Barry and Philip Casnoff . In the first part titled ¨The President's Man¨(2000) by Eric Norris and Michael Preece , dealt with Norris needs to find a replacement and finally finds the choosen soldier , Dylan Neal , who results to be convicted of murder and unwilling to follow Joshua's instructions, which makes think he might not be the one . He's a rebel, a troublesome soldier and then Chuck considers at times that he couldn't be the best option to succeed him.

This low-budgeted motion picture was ordinarily but professionally directed by Eric Norris who has usually produced , playing stunts and directed various vehicles for his father Chuck. Rating : Average but entertaining . The picture will appeal to Chuck Norris fans .

Not as jingoistic as expected, for one thing. "The radical fundamentalist element makes up only about 0.01% of the billion Muslims spread around the world. We can't condemn them all for the actions of a few", says Chuck Norris (top government agent, college professor at his spare time!) at one point, and if it sounds preachy or heavy-handed, considering the fact that some people still haven't gotten that point in the year 2008, it's quite commendable of Norris to make it in 2001. As an action film, "The President's Man 2" is above-average by TV standards. Some of the stunts are blatantly unbelievable (catching a knife thrown at you in mid-air!), but what the hell, it's an action film after all. Chuck mostly sits this one out, giving the spotlight to the young Judson Mills, who is admittedly very impressive in his fight scenes. The best scene of the movie is a friendly training "match" between Mills and Chuck's on-screen daughter, Jennifer Tung (who is either trained in the martial arts or can fake it very well). Actually, that's the second best scene. The best is Chuck kicking a terrorist onto a tree like a ball! (**1/2)

(By the way, contrary to what another comment says, Mills isn't Norris' son, Tung never goes into the field, and there is no bad girl either; seeing a movie before commenting on it is strongly recommended).

Islamic terrorists have smuggled a nuclear device onto the soil of United States, and they threaten to detonate it unless their demands are met. So, The President's Man, Joshua McCord and his protege, Deke Slater, must defuse the situation. 'A Line in the Sand' is more action packed and fast paced than the first 'President's Man' movie. At the same time it is a more sillier, a more cheesy and more unbelievable. More ridiculous but also more suspenseful and more entertaining. Deke Slater's character is now taken over by Chuck Norris' go-star from 'Walker', Judson Mills. While in the first movie, Slater was arrogant, but still serious, the Mills turns Slater into arrogant goofball. Jennifer Tung's Que is more of a secondary character now, and Chuck Norris has even less screen time (and fight scenes). The real star is Judson Mills. He has enough screen presence to carry the movie, but his portrayal of Deke Slater was less sympathetic than Dylan Neal's version from the first movie. Eric Norris isn't near half as competent director as Michael Preece, who directed the first movie in the series. Although I have to admit, the stunt work in this one was also quite impressive. No wonder - Eric Norris mainly works as stunt coordinator. Although the story is quite consistent, the overall writing is lackluster.

Chuck Norris's movie have never been overly sophisticated, but 'A Line in the Sand' might fall into the category of 'so bad it's good'. If you are able to turn of the analyzing part of your brain, and if you can suspend your disbelief, then you might find yourself in entertaining B-TV-movie experience. But you will not miss anything if you will pass this one.

I started watching this - not knowing what to expect - but - hoping that it would be in the same vein as Lone Wolf McQuade. I was wrong. For those folks who see this as an action adventure - I would be more satisfied watching Wide World of Wrestling. Chuck Norris is in the movie - but - his presence is minimal. Watchable - perhaps - but - barely. Made for TV movie - to fill a time slot. Oh well - I'll just dig through my stacks of DVDs - and - dig out the earlier Chuck Norris movies - which were - of a much better quality in terms of plot - dialogue and action. I understand that Lone Wolf McQuade was made in 1983 - when Chuck Norris was forty-three years old - and - The President's Man was made in 2002 - twenty years later - when he was in his sixties - but - although the basic idea was sound - (someone ready to retire and who is looking for a replacement) - the execution was poor.

Pretty standard adventure fare. Religious fanatic terrorists plant nuclear device in American city. Chuck Norris and Judson Mills, as super secret special operatives reporting directly to the President, have to save the day. Lots of bad guys get beat up with Kung Fu moves; there is a bomb with a big red digital timer to defuse; bad guys get to fire thousands and thousands of rounds and continually miss the heroes. Hokey scene of Judson Mills training by dodging red balls blindfolded (remember Fred Ward as Remo Williams? Much better - if for no other reason than Joel Grey's crusty commentary). Still, if you like action movies where the good guy saves the day (hey, that is no spoiler, the good guy ALWAYS saves the day in this kind of movie) it is an OK way to spend a couple of mindless hours. Robert Uhrich, sporting a LOT more pounds than Spenser days, looks reasonably presidential. One other interesting point - I would presume this was filmed prior to 9/11 and the release was delayed - listen for comment on damage to the WTC, suggesting a small explosion, not the devastation that actually occurred.