The Fugitive 4K review by Bobby Blakey
Warner Bros has been celebrating their 100th anniversary by digging into their archives and bringing classic films to 4K for the first time. Their latest is the 1993 Academy Award nominated film The Fugitive based the television series “The Fugitive” which was created by Roy Huggins and ran from 1963 to 1967. The film stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones as Deputy U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Sela Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, and Jeroen Krabbé from Above The Law and Under Siege director Andrew Davis.
The Fugitive follows a well-respected Chicago surgeon, Dr. Richard Kimble who has found out that his wife has been murdered ferociously in her own home. The police found Kimble and accused him of the murder. Kimble (without Justifiable Reason) was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, however, on the way to prison, his transport crashed. Kimble escapes and is now on the run. Deputy Samuel Gerard from Chicago takes charge of the chase. Meanwhile, Kimble takes up his own investigation to find who really killed his wife, and to lure Gerard and his team into it as well.
While he is most known for Indiana Jones and Han Solo, it was this era of his films that I really dug. I remember this movie coming out thinking that no one cares about a remake of that TV show into a film and then loving the film. It is a great film that is filled with action, suspense and an unfolding mystery of who is the one-armed man. Getting to revisit it all these years later and I still dig this flick.
What makes this film so great is the duo of Ford and Jones. This could have been a very focused film on just Kimble, but the mix of the two and allowing it to interact and move side by side makes it work. I know that is the structure of the show as well, but Hollywood likes to streamline the focus at times, but this one allows it to work all around. Jones steals the show anytime he is on screen clearly enough that he and his team got the spin-off film U.S. Marshalls in 1998 and winning a best supporting actor Academy award for this role.
Ford is great as well and brings his everyman toughness to a role that isn’t necessarily a tough guy. You believe in this guy because of his intelligence and determination to prove his innocence. It always helps with Ford too that any fight sequence he does is the best, bringing realism to the style that you really believe in no matter how down to Earth or outrageous scenario might be. This is a great example of Ford bringing his A game like he usually does in a film that had no business translating as great as it does, but still holds up today.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including commentary, trailer, featurettes and more. Grab your copy of The Fugitive when it hits 4K for the first time ever on November 21st from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.