By the end of the 90s and 2000s the steam of the action heroes had started to run out (until Sylvester Stallone invigorated everyone's careers with the 'Expendables' franchise). Although Chuck Norris had a popular television series with 'Walker, Texas Ranger', his full length movies were also mostly television productions. 'The President's Man' is the best out of those. The movie is no way perfect. There are inconsistencies and plot holes, and the movie is bounded by the low budget and television production restraints. The story itself is quite interesting (there is a secret agent, who follows the President's direct order, but whose identity remains secret even for the President), but the screenplay follows the predictable path.
Chuck Norris stars as Joshua McCord: a typical stoic, a one-man-army type of hero. He wishes to retire and starts looking to his replacement. He finds a Delta Force sergeant Deke Slater (Dylan Neal), a soldier with an attitude who has been imprisoned for the insubordination. Slater is a guy who seems to follow his instincts (and heart) more than his brains, and McCord's task is to humble and prepare him for the upcoming missions. The main characters are nicely developed and with meaty enough backstories to care about them. Chuck Norris, Dylan Neal and Jennifer Tung form a cool trio of characters with great chemistry between them. Unfortunately villians are generic cardboard cut outs. Fight scenes and stunts are nice. In the finale the movie treats us with a proper stand-off like one proper martial arts movie should. The soundtrack is epic. It occasionally reminds the music from James Bond movies. There's nothing wrong with that - most of the super spy movies have scores that have similar compositions.
'The President's Man' is not very demanding, but sometimes it's just good to watch a simple action movie where good guys win with ease. A must see for any self respecting Chuck Norris fan. And you just have to respect that Chuck Norris was nearly 60 in this movie.
