Kiefer Sutherland makes authority sound credible, which is useful when we ought to distrust it. We rate him most when he keeps that force quiet: a single supporting scene can be enough.
Fi1m perspective
In Juror #2 (2024), Kiefer Sutherland gives legal advice in a level voice and makes telling the truth sound dangerous. His Larry Lasker, a lawyer and Justin’s sponsor, explains what someone with Justin’s history could expect from walking into a police station. We were unsettled by how ordinary Sutherland makes that warning sound. Clint Eastwood gives him one strong scene, and he does not need to raise his voice to make it count.
His film career is easy to underestimate if we start with television. His breakout as Ace Merrill in Stand by Me (1986) led into The Lost Boys (1987) and Young Guns (1988). By A Few Good Men (1992), where he played Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick, he was working in a major ensemble. The attraction of casting him in intense or menacing roles is clear: he can make that pressure seem like a person’s normal state.
For a less conventional use of him, there is Alex Proyas’s Dark City (1998). His Dr Daniel P. Schreber is a supporting character made memorable through movement and voice. We recommend the film for its invented city and the unease it produces, with the reservation that its people are not always as well written as its surroundings. It is worth keeping beside the action work, rather than treating that as the whole story.
Television made the association with authority harder to escape. As Jack Bauer in 24 (2001–2010), he brought sustained intensity to a real-time counter-terrorism thriller; the commitment helps explain why the part became so defining. The drawback is the expectation that he will supply the same urgent man whenever he appears. Phone Booth (2003), which casts him as the Caller, is worth remembering here for making his voice central to a contained thriller.
Eastwood’s film gives that familiar authority a smaller, more persuasive job. Nicholas Hoult carries Juror #2 through the effort of keeping his face still, while Sutherland calmly describes what telling the truth could cost Justin. The premise creaks in places, but the advice scene holds. Start there if Jack Bauer is the only Sutherland you know.
Biography
Kiefer Sutherland is a British-Canadian actor. He was born in Paddington, London, on 21 December 1966, the son of actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas.
Sutherland first achieved recognition for his role in the Canadian film The Bay Boy (1985). He rose to prominence in Hollywood films including Stand by Me (1986), A Few Good Men (1992) and Phone Booth (2003). He is best known for portraying Jack Bauer in the television series 24 (2001–2010), for which he received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. His later film credits include Melancholia (2011) and Juror #2 (2024), in which he played Larry Lasker.
