Director: Andrew Davis
Story: David Twohy (based on the 1960s television series)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward
Music: James Newton Howard
Time: 130 minutes
Bottom-line: A well-constructed mystery thriller, as entertaining as any Indiana Jones film
Get ready to meet the new avatar of Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford, in Andrew Davis’ crime thriller The Fugitive. A fast paced thriller, The Fugitive may be just another cop-criminal chase, but with a proper, well constructed (and well solved) mystery and terrific acting, this film proves to be better than most of the others.
The story takes place in Illinois, where Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford) comes home late one night and finds his wife, Helen (Ward), almost dead, wounded by a one armed man. The man escapes, but Helen, in her call to 911, mumbles the word 'Richard,' who just appears in front of her. This causes the court to convict him of first degree murder, and the fact that Helen was rich and that all her money would come to Kimble after her death strengthen the case against him. While going on a bus along with all the other prisoners, an accident causes the bus to topple over and fall on a railway track. The warden reluctantly releases Kimble, who flees just before the oncoming train smashes the bus.
Enter Deputy Marshall Samuel Gerard (Jones), who is a stone-hearted cop in charge of finding Kimble. Using his already acquired skills of a doctor, and with the help of several disguises, Kimble comes closer and closer to solving the puzzle. Does Kimble, with or without the help of his ‘friends’, find the killer? Does Gerard track down Kimble before Kimble can successfully catch his wife’s murderer? Watch the film to find out.
The story is excellent. This is like any other mystery thriller, with a good plot and clear solution; whether or not it is far-fetched is up to the viewers. The pace never slackens, except for a few scenes in between. The suspense is held till the end. There are few unique camera angles: many scenes are shown from a bird’s eye view, and the action scenes are filmed well. The scenes of the bus falling on the tracks till the scene where the train almost hits Kimble, have been filmed very well. The dialogues are good, and the dialogues alone explain the plot to us, and not any flashback.
Harrison Ford has acted very well. Unlike Indiana Jones films, where the thrilling plot itself is enough to entertain the audience, Ford’s acting also contributes to the story here. Ford displays brilliantly the life of a doctor whose life has gone down from riches and fame to a lone wanderer with a mission and the life of a man who has lost his only love in the world. Tommy Lee Jones has acted equally well, if not better. He has many fast dialogues in the film, which he speaks very well. He plays a ruthless cop, who doesn’t care about anyone, but who just wants to get his job done.
About the story, there are several unrealistic incidents. One, Kimble is a murderer (to the public); two, he is an escaped convict. How can such a man fool so many people with a couple of disguises? He just goes into hospitals, takes a house for rent and such stuff. Unlike Voldemort in Harry Potter, Gerard doesn’t mind who catches him: he just wants the convict caught. In such a case, why can’t he put up posters or do something to root out Kimble, at least after he knows Kimble is anyway in Illinois? But well, if it weren't for these plot holes, the story would have been complete! So well, ignore these and just enjoy!
The story proceeds at a rapid pace. Other than a few unwanted scenes, all the other scenes contribute to the plot. As Kimble investigates, he finds many clues. Using them, the viewers can also their own conclusions about who the murderer is. But of course, they later find out that the murderer had only a small part to play, and there is a bigger villain than the killer. The ending is slightly ambiguous, mainly because of the fact that we know Kimble is innocent (and that he is the hero of the story), but the people in the story don’t.
In short, The Fugitive is Andrew Davis’ best directorial work, and also one of Ford’s and Jones’ best films. Terrific acting by both lead actors, another good score by James Newton Howard, good cinematography and various other contributions make this brainy thriller a great watch. Join Harrison Ford in his run for truth; after all, he is the fugitive.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%
Story: David Twohy (based on the 1960s television series)
Cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela WardMusic: James Newton Howard
Time: 130 minutes
Bottom-line: A well-constructed mystery thriller, as entertaining as any Indiana Jones film
Get ready to meet the new avatar of Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford, in Andrew Davis’ crime thriller The Fugitive. A fast paced thriller, The Fugitive may be just another cop-criminal chase, but with a proper, well constructed (and well solved) mystery and terrific acting, this film proves to be better than most of the others.
The story takes place in Illinois, where Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford) comes home late one night and finds his wife, Helen (Ward), almost dead, wounded by a one armed man. The man escapes, but Helen, in her call to 911, mumbles the word 'Richard,' who just appears in front of her. This causes the court to convict him of first degree murder, and the fact that Helen was rich and that all her money would come to Kimble after her death strengthen the case against him. While going on a bus along with all the other prisoners, an accident causes the bus to topple over and fall on a railway track. The warden reluctantly releases Kimble, who flees just before the oncoming train smashes the bus.
Enter Deputy Marshall Samuel Gerard (Jones), who is a stone-hearted cop in charge of finding Kimble. Using his already acquired skills of a doctor, and with the help of several disguises, Kimble comes closer and closer to solving the puzzle. Does Kimble, with or without the help of his ‘friends’, find the killer? Does Gerard track down Kimble before Kimble can successfully catch his wife’s murderer? Watch the film to find out.
 |
| Ford as Dr. Kimble |
Harrison Ford has acted very well. Unlike Indiana Jones films, where the thrilling plot itself is enough to entertain the audience, Ford’s acting also contributes to the story here. Ford displays brilliantly the life of a doctor whose life has gone down from riches and fame to a lone wanderer with a mission and the life of a man who has lost his only love in the world. Tommy Lee Jones has acted equally well, if not better. He has many fast dialogues in the film, which he speaks very well. He plays a ruthless cop, who doesn’t care about anyone, but who just wants to get his job done.
 |
| Jones as Samuel Gerard |
About the story, there are several unrealistic incidents. One, Kimble is a murderer (to the public); two, he is an escaped convict. How can such a man fool so many people with a couple of disguises? He just goes into hospitals, takes a house for rent and such stuff. Unlike Voldemort in Harry Potter, Gerard doesn’t mind who catches him: he just wants the convict caught. In such a case, why can’t he put up posters or do something to root out Kimble, at least after he knows Kimble is anyway in Illinois? But well, if it weren't for these plot holes, the story would have been complete! So well, ignore these and just enjoy!
The story proceeds at a rapid pace. Other than a few unwanted scenes, all the other scenes contribute to the plot. As Kimble investigates, he finds many clues. Using them, the viewers can also their own conclusions about who the murderer is. But of course, they later find out that the murderer had only a small part to play, and there is a bigger villain than the killer. The ending is slightly ambiguous, mainly because of the fact that we know Kimble is innocent (and that he is the hero of the story), but the people in the story don’t.
In short, The Fugitive is Andrew Davis’ best directorial work, and also one of Ford’s and Jones’ best films. Terrific acting by both lead actors, another good score by James Newton Howard, good cinematography and various other contributions make this brainy thriller a great watch. Join Harrison Ford in his run for truth; after all, he is the fugitive.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%
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