Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Fled Blu-ray Movie Review

"Average" is a four-letter word that starts with "F."

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 16, 2015

Talk about your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, fully watchable yet completely forgettable 90s Action movie. Director Kevin Hooks' (Passenger 57) Fled finds an eerie middle ground of banality. It's fairly well made -- nothing insulting here on either side of the camera -- but at the same time it offers an almost impossibly average experience. It's a film that manages to ascend just high enough to evade the clutches of the harshest critics and it's just bland enough to stay off the radar screens of more demanding cinephiles. It's the perfect in-the-middle movie, suitable for a lazy, rainy, nothing-better-to-do afternoon but hardly fit for duty as must-see cinema, of the good kind and the not-so-good kind alike.

Cuffed.

Convict Piper (Laurence Fishburne) has been around the block. He's a veteran of the prison system and chain gang and he steps in when the fresh-faced new arrival Dodge (Stephen Baldwin) bites off more than he can chew. Their "camaraderie" is rewarded with a steel chain holding them together, each bound at the wrist. But as soon as the cuffs are slapped on each man's arm, chaos ensues. A prisoner manages to grab a gun and proceeds to kill all of the officers. He flees, as do Piper and Dodge. They're pursued by a small army of police officers as well as Detective Gibson (Will Patton), the man who just put Dodge away. Piper and Dodge manage to evade authorities and eventually free themselves of the chain with the help of a "good samaritan" named Cora (Salma Hayek). Eventually, it's revealed that Dodge's arrival on the chain gang scene was no accident. He's a computer hacker and has gotten in too deep with the Cuban mafia from whom he stole millions. Now, they're pursued by every law enforcement officer in the state of Georgia and a more dangerous and determined foe in the revenge-minded Cubans.

Of course, there's more to the story than a simple flight from justice. Fled falls far behind more dramatically dense, kinetically entertaining, and richly scripted "escape" flair like The Fugitive, a film which is admittedly at the top of the heap of the "on the run form the law" genre but still the closest thing to which Fled can compare. In an effort to add some variety or draw out the story and fill-in for the relative absence of rich character detail and pitch-perfect filmmaking, Fled adds in a zany subplot about hacked computers, a disk, and plenty of cash that just so happens to place the convicts in the middle of more mayhem than they can realistically handle. It allows for greater freedom for the movie to showcase bits of violence -- bloody, painful gun fights -- that it probably couldn't do with only the "right side of the law" cops on the convicts' trail (though it does seem to relish a scene in which a lawman shoots a convict -- not one of the "heroes" -- right through the heart with a deer rifle, and to bloody result). It never quite adds up or brings much to the table that some more carefully scripted character bits couldn't provide, and the result is a story that's too convoluted and involved for what should be a simple and unique twist on the "buddy" genre.

Fled has enough sense to realize that it's hardly the stuff of classic cinema, and what better way to spruce up a dud than to force some comparisons with better movies? At practically very turn, Dodge -- a walking encyclopedia of motion pictures -- spits out one-liners about what they should and how they should do it based on what he's learned in the movies, citing classics such as the aforementioned The Fugitive as well as The Godfather and Deliverance as a means of convincing Piper that they're doing it all wrong, that they're making a mistake, and that they're better off using the Hollywood template rather than their own good sense to get out of a sticky situation. Piper even gets in on the act when he references Shaft as sort of a back-at-ya to Dodge. And in a strange, albeit very subtle, way, the mere mention of superior cinema helps Fled tremendously, not enough to get it over the hump but enough to bring a smile to the face of everyone watching with its knowing, sly manipulation that increases its charm many times over where it otherwise does not exist. It's nowhere near enough to save the movie (even with some other cinematic "thefts" in its pocket, such as using the color-coded gun magazine trick from Die Hard 2) but a little help goes a long way down the road of "average."

Fled Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Fled's 1080p transfer isn't a looker, but it gets the job done. It's heavily speckled and spotted, showing a fair bit of wear and debris, but rarely ever to a truly debilitating extent. A few scenes look a little flat and processed, but generally the image enjoys decent enough clarity and definition to go along with a sometimes uneven but present grain structure. Basics like clothing and skin textures are fairly presented, but wooded terrain and various urban details lack that true, razor-sharp texturing. Colors are likewise passably uninteresting, producing various bright and earthy shades alike with workmanlike attention to detail rather than purely organic, eye popping precision. Black levels and flesh tones satisfy. There are few edge halos and minor noise but no distracting aliasing, macroblocking, or other eyesores.

Fled Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fled features a fairly robust, but nowhere near perfect, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music is healthy in terms of spacing, filling the stage with decently defined score and good background placement in clubs. Definition is a little spotty, but there's a well balanced and moderately authoritative low end supporting. The low end is also present in a number of elements throughout, including hefty explosions, moderately aggressive gunfire, weighty crashes, and other action-oriented effects. Various background support pieces, like barking bloodhounds or natural environmental support pieces, are nicely placed and help build a greater atmosphere around the action. Dialogue is well prioritized and clear.

Fled Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Fled contains no bonus content. The main menu only offers selections for "Play" and "Chapters."

Fled Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fortunately, Fled -- at least the nuts-and-bolts, "convicts as main characters on the run from the authorities" core -- was later done right by Joel and Ethan Coen in the brilliant O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a movie with pitch-perfect characterization, faultless craftsmanship, and even a memorable soundtrack that fit right into the middle of the film's narrative. Fled is a rather dismal effort in comparison, even as it's a decent enough entertainer in its own right. Even the leads don't share much obvious chemistry, but the movie should satisfy audiences in search of something to kill a couple of hours, and Olive Films' Blu-ray fits the bill. Offering fair video and decent 5.1 lossless audio, the presentation, imperfect as it may be, satisfies base requirements (much like the movie). Unsurprisingly, no extras are included. Rent it.