The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

I care, Tommy Lee. 𝘐 care.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 17, 2023

Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Andrew Davis' endlessly watchable The Fugitive remains a true career highlight for all involved. It's a crackling thriller with an excellent cast, great cinematography, perfect pacing, and a fine original score by James Newton Howard. Warner Bros.' welcome new 4K UHD release ups the ante from their already-terrific 20th Anniversary Blu-ray, which paired a quality technical presentation with a handful of retrospective bonus features. This edition brings back most of those supplements and bolsters the A/V experience with a new director-supervised 4K transfer and Dolby Atmos mix, which makes this more of a total replacement than a companion disc.

For a synopsis and appreciation of The Fugitive, please see Michael Reuben's review of the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray linked above. I couldn't agree more -- this is top-tier entertainment from start to finish. Case in point: I last watched this movie just a week or two before the 4K release was announced and couldn't wait to pop it in yet again.)

The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: This review's screenshots are sourced from the separately-available 20th Anniversary Blu-ray.

I'll admit to being skeptical of Warner Bros.' new 4K "restoration" of The Fugitive for two reasons: director-approved (and even cinematographer-approved) transfers occasionally take liberties with the source material's tone and texture, and this UHD release's almost monochromatic blue-tinted cover artwork hinted at a potential color regrade to align it with modern trends. I'm happy to report that its new 2160p, HDR-enhanced picture suffers from no such drawbacks*, with a very clean, stable, and organic appearance that plays nice and smooth on this triple-layered disc. And before you balk at my use of the word "smooth", let it be known that The Fugitive's original grain structure seems to be perfectly intact here: not only was this never a particularly grainy-looking production, but scans of the camera negative rarely yield high grain levels with the exception of specific film stocks and formats like nitrate or 16mm.

As such, The Fugitive's sporadically chilly and "urban naturalist"-style cinematography by Michael Chapman (outlined in Michael Reuben's review of the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray, linked above) is given full room to breathe here, as the newer scan of its source elements and efficient UHD disc encoding yield consistently satisfying results that appear authentic to what audiences may have seen during original theatrical showings. It's clean as a whistle but with higher levels of fine detail and tangible textures, both from the bump to 4K resolution and more careful treatment of those aforementioned grain levels. A few nighttime scenes and establishing shots are perhaps a bit overtaken by said grain and even a bit of noise, but for my money that's preferable to a scrubbed appearance that compromises its original look.

The 4K disc's HDR10 enhancement comes into play at specific but mostly important moments. Stronger color values such as the bold prison uniforms, police lights, and urban signage show a bit more variety and subtle gradient detail, while the better-managed contrast values reveal deeper shadows, brighter light sources, and bolster a few of the more expressively-shot moments while avoiding the almost inevitable blooming or black crush that might arrive with a less dialed-in SDR presentation. The Fugitive is not a particularly colorful or "showy" film during most of its luxurious 130-minute runtime -- opting for more of a natural and typically slightly cool Earth-toned palette in line with its setting and season, as mentioned above -- but these bolder pockets are appreciated, adding a bit of punch and visual interest to the visual proceedings without sticking out like a sore thumb or standing opposed to the late cinematographer's intent. Those with smaller displays might not be able to describe it as a night-and-day improvement over the earlier Blu-ray, but on the right setup fans will overwhelmingly enjoy The Fugitive's makeover to its fullest extent.

* - There are few very brief moments which appear slightly different in color from past editions; for example, the short flashbacks of Kimble's wife on that fateful night, which were previously close to true black-and-white but now look to be tinted slightly cooler. It's not distracting and in no way reeks of heavy color revisionism, but still worth noting.

The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Even in its most ambitious moments, Warner Bros.' new Dolby Atmos mix doesn't offer a night-and-day improvement over its already-outstanding DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix which, to the studio's credit, is included here as a secondary audio option. But that doesn't make it any less of a demo-worthy track with a formidable sonic presence, strong use of the discrete channels, and a smoothly controlled sound stage that deftly mixes clean dialogue, crisp sound effects, and plenty of support for James Newton Howard's terrific original score. Sure, the Dolby Atmos obviously plays a bit tighter thanks to its object-based format as well as sparing but sensible use of the height channels for elements like helicopter flyovers, the rooftop climax, and towering ambiance within larger buildings (as well as a more robust low end, at least to my ears), but anyone not yet equipped for Atmos won't exactly be getting half the story as The Fugitive has always been a sonically impressive film that's not just impressive during that infamous train wreck. But the fact that we have two separate options, both of which are excellent, leaves room for no other score but a perfect 5/5.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature and most of the extras below.

The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with new collage-style cover artwork, a matching metallic slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption code. Its bonus features are mostly identical to the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray, although the 2000 TV pilot starring Tim Daly and Mykelti Williamson is not included this time around. For more information of all of them, please see both the linked review above and Marty Liebman's review of the 2006 Blu-ray.

• Introduction by director Andrew Davis, Harrison Ford, and Tommy Lee Jones (1:52)

• Audio Commentary with Andrew Davis and Tommy Lee Jones

• The Fugitive: Thrill of the Chase (28:21)

• Derailed: Anatomy of a Train Wreck (8:55)

• On the Run with The Fugitive (23:06)

• Theatrical Trailer (2:02)

The Fugitive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Andrew Davis' The Fugitive turns 30 this year but still feels fresh and engaging with great performances, a rock-solid pace, excellent cinematography, and of course a gripping story. I usually hate the phrase "they don't make 'em like this anymore" but the sturdy, back-to-basics approach works tremendously well here and helps The Fugitive remain a genre standout. WB's welcome 4K UHD edition replaces their already-fine 20th Anniversary Blu-ray with an across-the-board A/V upgrade and most of its existing bonus content. Highly Recommended to fans and first-timers alike.