The President's Man: A Line in the Sand

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.

Having just watched the 2000 movie "The President's Man", then I ventured on to watching the 2002 sequel "The President's Man: A Line in the Sand", which I didn't know existed before now in 2025.

Writers Bob Gookin, John Lansing and Bruce Cervi put together an okay script and storyline, though I have to say that it felt short of being as enjoyable as the 2000 movie. But it was still a fair enough script and a watchable movie. I struggled a bit with feigning interest in the narrative, as the were long patched of nothing happening in the narrative.

It was nice that both Chuck Norris and Jennifer Tung returned to reprise their roles. The only familiar face on the screen, aside from the aforementioned two, was actor Robert Urich. The acting performances in the movie were fair, no doubt about that.

There is some action in the movie that helped keep the movie afloat. But just not enough to lift the movie up to par with its predecessor.

My rating of director Eric Norris's 2002 movie "The President's Man: A Line in the Sand" lands on four out of ten stars.

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.

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).