To enjoy “U.S. Marshals,” you can’t spend much time comparing it to “The Fugitive.”

That movie was fantastic, a Best Picture Oscar nominee. Plus, it had Harrison Ford, the biggest movie star of our time.

“U.S. Marshals” isn’t really a sequel to the original, more like a spin off. Like when Mrs. Garrett started the television classic “The Facts of Life” after leaving “Different Strokes.”

Tommy Lee Jones reprises his Oscar winning role as Marshall Sam Gerard. His whole team is back from the original. You remember them — the guy that whines about his ears hurting, the guy more concerned about ruining his shoes, the motherly female member of the team.

They’re all good, and really gel as an ensemble cast, but again it is Jones that truly shines.

A big plus in “U.S. Marshals” is the chance to see Jones dressed up as a big yellow chicken. It’s part of a stake out disguise, as he stands in front of a Chiko-Rama fast food restaurant passing out free food samples.

The fugitive on the run this time around is Wesley Snipes as Mark Sheridan. After he is involved in a traffic accident, he is arrested and charged with the murder of two government agents in New York City.

Sheridan claims it is a case of mistaken identity, but supposedly his prints were found at the crime scene. Is he guilty, or do the cops have the wrong man? The pieces of the puzzle come together over the course of the movie.

In one of those big, unbelievable movie coincidences, Gerard ends up on the same plane transporting Sheridan to New York. In order for the chase to begin, Sheridan has to escape. And when the plane goes down, he does just that.

I’ve read other reviews that call the plane crash scene “spectacular” and such. Well, I thought the scene looked kind of cheesy.

After a hole gets blown in the side of the plane, it is forced to make an emergency landing on a strip of narrow highway. It is supposed to be traveling at hundreds of miles and hour, but there is no sense of speed in the sequence. It looked like the plane was going about 10, maybe 20 miles an hour.

It certainly doesn’t compare to the truly spectacular train crash in “The Fugitive.” Oops — I’m not supposed to compare the two, so I’ll stop this train of thought right now. (Get it? “Train” of thought? Ha, ha.)

After the plane ends up upside down in a river bed, the movie settles into a chase structure. Also at this point Robert Downey Jr. joins the cast for some reason.

He plays government agent John Royce, who is assigned to work with Gerard in his pursuit of Sheridan. Royce is a smart-ass, secretive guy who is always wearing suspenders and a striped tie.

I kept asking myself why Downey was in this movie. He doesn’t fit. I would say it might be the worst case of miscasting in a long time if I hadn’t just read Steven Seagal has been cast as Genghis Khan in an upcoming film. Can’t wait to see that one.

The bulk of the movie could be called “Chasing Wesley.” Sheridan runs, Gerard gives chase and slowly pieces together the truth.

“U.S. Marshals” is a relatively exciting action film. There’s a great cemetery shoot out, a chase through a retirement home, a daring rooftop escape and a slug fest inside a huge chamber full of grain.

In short, “U.S. Marshals” does what an action movie should, allowing you to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Jones is perfect in his Marshal Gerard role, and Snipes makes a good fugitive.

4 stars out of five

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Mike Milik is a senior in advertising from West Des Moines.