by The 1998 crime thriller U.S. Marshals, a sequel to The Fugitive, will be available for free streaming starting next month. This makes it the perfect opportunity to find out whether it truly lives up to Robert Downey Jr.’s harsh assessment.
The film will be among the many titles arriving on Tubi in April, with U.S. Marshals making its debut on April 1. Other movies coming to the platform include Wrath of Man, Edge of Tomorrow, and Once Upon a Time in America. Although it currently holds a modest 30% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s RDJ’s scathing comments about the movie that continue to echo, adding to its controversial legacy.
In The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid, Robert Downey Jr. humorously reflected on his challenging year, saying, “You’ve had a traumatic year, you’ve been practically suicidal — what do you think would be really healing for you? How about like twelve weeks of running around as Johnny Handgun? I think that if you talk to a spirit guide, they would say, ‘That’ll kill you.’…I thought maybe there was something I was missing, and what I really needed to do was to be in one of those films that I love taking my kid to. It would end up being really depressing.” These candid remarks came shortly after Downey Jr. infamously referred to U.S. Marshals as “possibly the worst action movie of all time.”
What Is U.S. Marshals About?
U.S. Marshals, the 1998 sequel to Harrison Ford’s 1993 film The Fugitive, follows Tommy Lee Jones’ character, United States Deputy Marshal Sam Gerard, as he pursues Wesley Snipes’ Mark Sheridan, who finds himself entangled in a massive government conspiracy. Robert Downey Jr. plays DSS Special Agent John Royce, a significant character who is revealed to be the true villain, having framed Sheridan.
While the film received harsh reviews (with RDJ himself labeling it as a contender for “the worst action movie of all time”), U.S. Marshals was still a moderate box office hit, grossing $102.4 million on a $45 million budget. However, its less-than-stellar reception is why it isn’t as highly regarded as other iconic crime films from the 1990s, such as Gary Oldman’s State of Grace or Guy Ritchie’s directorial debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, both released in the same year.
You can judge for yourself if U.S. Marshals really deserves its reputation when it hits Tubi for free streaming on April 1.
