Review of The Fugitive (1993) by Zack S — 12 Sep 2010

A solid action-thriller from the 90ies, the golden era of thrillers. However, I use the solid in its most basic sense, because although does not go wrong anyhwere, I feel that it never navigates outside of genre boundaries and standard thriller fare. Furthermore, I think the action in action-thriller is way too emphasized and there are half a dozen scenes in the movies (train crash, showdown) which are just long (very long) scenes of cat-and-mouse hunting nothingness and I found myself wanting for the movie to carry on finally. Personally, I would have preferred more suspense, more "thinking man's" action instead. For this and the fact that the movie is a tad too predictable, I give it only three stars.

Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are a great cast but I feel like Jones' character's detachment from his work (although it is hinted that he is only pretending to be careless) makes it harder to become emotionally involved in the duality of cop vs. fugitive. If you compare to other dualist movies of crime vs. law (Heat, Brookly's finest), the Fugitive fails to create the off-scene bond between Ford and Jones. I am certain this is not because of Jones' acting because he is one of the few actors I know who can play without doing anything, his eyes are intense and I love seeing him pondering on screen. Harrison Ford was the go to for thrillers in the 90ies and it is not hard to see why, he combines seasoned determination with a babyface and that makes him the perfect knight in shining armor in pursuit of justice and the truth. The rest of the cast is so-so and Julianne Moore's "cameo" feels way out of place as it was intentionally meant to be part of an angle where Ford and Moore become more involved, bad editing.

All in all, less action and a bit more character development / suspense would have been nice. Still worth watching, if only for Ford and Jones' performances.

HX.