Chief Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones) is on a prisoner transport plane, kind of like the one in Con Air. When the plane crashes one of the convicts, Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) escapes. Gerard soon has the troops mobilized and hunting down the fugitive. Along for the man hunt are Gerard's usual crew, including Cosmo Renfro (Joe Pantoliano). Joining the team is John Royce (Robert Downey Jr.), an agent assigned to watch and report the progress of Gerard. As information about Sheridan is learned they discover he is a government operative involved in black ops. He is wanted for the murder of two fellow agents. The chase starts in the Tennessee swamps and leads to New York, all the while Gerard wonders why this cold-blooded killer goes out of his way not to kill people.
U.S. Marshals is not nearly as good as The Fugitive. It lacked the pace and purpose of the original. There is a lot of wasted time in U.S. Marshals. The first 15 to 20 minutes are pointless. There is no need to set up Gerard, we remember him from the first movie. As for introducing Sheridan, just put him on the plane and that establishes him as a criminal. Additionally why was Sheridan's girlfriend Marie (Irene Jacobs) even in the movie? She served no purpose. The middle third of the movie was a drawn-out search for clues that could have been accomplished much quicker. That's the main problem with U.S. Marshals, it moves too slow despite having more action than The Fugitive. There is no real feeling of tension or urgency. The characters plod along methodically to outcome that is obvious early on in the film. There are some good action sequences but instead of making them better they went for bigger. How do you top a train wreck? With a plane crash of course. Jones was good as Gerard, the role which earned him the 1993 Academy Award for best supporting actor. Snipes did well and was more believable in his flight from justice than a middle aged doctor. For the most part U.S. Marshals is a poorly done attempt to capitalize on the success of The Fugitive.