The Fugitive - don't let this one escape you

There are some films which are pretty much perfect (for what they are). ‘The Fugitive’s’ beauty lies in its simplicity (not to mention the excellent performances from its two main stars).  A prominent doctor’s wife is murdered.  He’s accused and convicted, but manages to escape and sets out to prove his innocence.

Of course ‘simple’ doesn’t always mean great.  Like I said, ‘The Fugitive’ would be a lot less if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone’s favourite space pirate/adventurer, Harrison Ford, wasn’t the fugitive in question.  As with most of his films, he’s great to watch and perfect to root for.  But of course things go even less smoothly for our runaway doctor than they already have been.  If being wrongly convicted for spousal murder wasn’t bad enough, the toughest U.S. Marshall ever, played perfectly by Tommy Lee Jones, has been despatched to bring in his man – at any costs.  Again, Jones’ performance is spot on and if ever there was a better game of ‘cat and mouse’ then I haven’t seen it.

There are plenty of memorable scenes in the film, most of which involve the two leads squaring off – most notably the scene at the dam.  And, even thought the film is now over twenty years old, it can still hold onto its own today.  It doesn’t look in any way dated and you don’t need iphones or Twitter to prove how modern it is.

Sometimes I try to guess who the audience to a film is.  In this case, I’d say: everyone.  If you like thrillers, if you like tension, if you like mystery or you just like either/or Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones then you’re in for a treat.  In fact... if you like good films in general you really should check it out.  Despite its two hour runtime, it flies by (not sure whether that makes the ‘semi-sequel’ ‘U.S. Marshalls also a success – most people may just want to stick with this one).

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather