I literally typed out this sentence earlier “Not gonna bother writing a full proper review about this or anything, because I don't have that much to say about it!
After writing that, I proceeded to write out my thoughts on the movie, intending to post it directly to my Discord server (which you should join by the way. https://discord.gg/khp2yD6MS3)
I was then informed that what I had written was far too long for Discord to allow, so I guess it goes here instead. Enjoy!
I finally watched The Fugitive (1993) for the first time last night. You know, that movie where Harrison Ford runs away a lot.
You might know it from that moment in the Simpsons where Milhouse jumps off a dam. That’s a parody. I didn’t know that when I saw it, which adds it to the long list of references on The Simpsons that went way over my head.
...It was great! I had heard people talk about this movie before, and it's always been positive, but I didn't know anything specific about it. It's just one of those, "Oh yeah, that was a pretty good movie," movies.
It's a 90s thriller, it's got Harrison Ford. Running. That's about all I knew going in. Oh, and I didn’t know this, but apparently it’s based on a 60s TV show, which was *also* based extremely loosely on a true story? I haven’t looked into the true story, but after watching this movie, I can only imagine that it’s very loose indeed. The real doctor’s name was Sam Sheppard, but not that one, not the playwright one.
Turns out it's a bit like Die Hard. Not in terms of plot or anything. There's some very light thematic similarities (reluctant action guy thrown into a situation he's not prepared for) but I mean that comparison more in how it comes together as a movie. How it *feels.*
It's a pretty basic Action-Thriller throughout. Intro summary time! Harrison Ford is framed for a murder, goes to jail, unexpectedly escapes, runs around searching for the real killer while Tommy Lee Jones and his rag-tag group of quirky agents try to catch him. That's the basic gist of the plot, and it's all fairly straightforward, no huge surprises.
But everything in the movie is done so well that it's elevated to a higher level than it should be on paper.
The acting is fantastic. Harrison Ford is and always has been a bona fide movie star, but I've never really thought that much of him as an actor. He's charismatic and can sell scenes, he can pull focus, but you wouldn't call him Brando. There's exceptions to that, absolutely, but I don't generally go into a Harrison Ford movie expecting some heavy duty acting.
In The Fugitive, he's really trying. In the opening 10 minutes, he really sells grief and shock and panic with his face. He looks genuinely haunted.
He continues to play a little against type for the whole movie, as Richard Kimble, a mild mannered doctor who's frantically running around, barely staying half a step ahead of these borderline genius feds. (They say they’re US Marshals, but I have no idea what that means, because I’m not American, so let’s just call them feds, and if you’re annoyed, good.)
Tommy Lee Jones is great as the lead manhunter, as he tends to be. He apparently won an Oscar for this, and you can see why. He's weird and funny and intimidating at various points, sometimes all in the same scene, and you can 100% believe him as this strange, genius tracker.
The side characters are great too. Mostly standard character actor fare. You'll find yourself going, "Hey, it's that guy!" a lot. They're all good and fun.
Actually, I was struck by how they played the little group of feds. They’re not how you usually see these people portrayed in movies. usually when i think of the FBI or other similar agencies (you know, anyone that get’s called an “agent”) I think of things like the X-Files or Twin Peaks. They’re usually shown either as boring, grey faced bureaucrats, or basically the same but also they’re deeply strange.
In this movie, they’re a bit laddy, a bit hyper active, a bit folksy. Just kind of refreshing, to be honest. When you look at Tommy Lee Jones, his face and whole way of carrying himself just screams seriousness, and so I was a little shocked when he started talking and some funny, weird stuff came out.
Aside from the acting, it's got solid direction by Andrew Davis, simple but effective cinematography by Michael Chapman, who was apparently only hired a week before shooting began because another cinematographer got fired and he needed the money. There’s a lot of great location work as they run around a naturally lit, grimy Chicago, and the editing is tense and frenetic, with long, slow scenes to gradually raise the stakes, punctuated by fast cuts and chases.
Basically (like Die Hard as I mentioned earlier) it's a fairly by-the-numbers 90s action/thriller movie - and man, can you tell from every *frame* that it was made in the early 90s. The clothes and hair alone act like a calendar page - but everything is so competently made, and everyone is clearly doing such a good job that you find yourself more gripped and excited than you probably expected.
Final Rating: Harrison Ford Awkwardly Jumping Away From A Train%