The Fugitive (20th Anniversary Edition) (2013)

When I first saw 'The Fugitive', I was hoping that it didn't fall into the trap of silliness that most TV-show based feature films have fallen into (remember 'Car 54', or 'Wild Wild West'?). Needless to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised to see that it went WAY beyond my low expectations! Great moments of suspense, action, and plot twists galore!

Harrison Ford's been knocked for not putting much 'feeling' into some of his roles. But if there are emotions he does do well, it's desperation and determined stoicism with a touch of sarcasm... a perfect fit for a fugitive out to clear his name. As well, Tommy Lee Jones is a lock as U.S. Marshal Sam Gerardhe plays the character's somewhat cocky and no-nonsense attitude to perfection. He also gets the best lines, and a pretty good supporting cast playing his U.S. Marshal Service cohorts (including the recentlyrecognized Joe Pantoliano). It's scenery-chewing at it's best, and definitely an Oscar-worthy perfomance.

Their performances of the two main characters and antagonists is so compelling that, like my fellow reviewers have stated before, I was rooting for the both of them throughout the presentation. It's two 'good guys' against each other, with one helping lead the other to the same end!

When I heard about the Special Edition DVD release, I was kinda bummed. I'd already spent a few bucks on the original release, and never anticipated the possibility of an enhanced version. But, thanks to those wonderful buyers on eBay, I got a good return on my original disc at a minimal loss, and grabbed a copy of the new one.

The new disc isn't half-bad, but doesn't quite match up to the standards of other fully-loaded DVD fare as `T2 Ultimate Edition' or `The Abyss'. It features teasers, trailers, and a few behind-the-scenes bits, including the setup & shooting of the train wreck. Davis even discusses a `flub' following the wreck that was cut out of the original video version, but was then digitally corrected and restored in this DVD release! And no, I'm not gonna tell you about ityou'll have to see it for yourself!

The commentary track by director Andrew Davis and Tommy Lee Jones was not one of the better feature-length commentaries I've experienced. There are parts where neither of them speak for a couple minutes on end, almost like they didn't have that much to say about the movie in the first place. Jones' commentary was minimal, with mostly throwaway-type observations that didn't really add much to the track.

And now, my biggest gripe: Warner is STILL using cardboard snap cases for their digital discs! You'd think they'd've gotten out of the DVD Stone Age by now...

'Late

I've noticed various reviews here have stated that the video quality was impressive. Personally I was quite disapointed.

This was the first Blu-ray I purchased and frankly I was disappointed with the video quality. I realize the film is never going to look as sparkling and clean as more recent films, but the image quality seemed lacking.

It has a soft, washed out 'milky' look and the detail is off and on. Sometimes the close-ups on faces are impressive, but then it will cut to a city shot at night and I really noticed the lack of definition.

Of course much of this flatness comes from the fact that the photography was fairly dull in the first place (the whole film has a 'grey' look), but I still expected something more impressive on the Blu-ray format.

Also the sound is not HD or PCM. It comes with the same audio as the previous DVD.

So my advice, if you only want to collect Blu-rays with superb video & audio quality, this is NOT one of them. But, if you are simply a fan of the film and want the best quality version available, then this is still your best bet.

Buy The Fugitive (20th Anniversary Edition) (2013) Now

First off, I just want to clarify that this is a review of the product, NOT the movie.

The transfer was a complete ripoff, this in no way was a remastered dvd. It has about the same quality as a VHS, the first 2 minutes shows a perfect example how bad the quality of the supposed "Blu-ray" is, the blacks are completely washed out and throughout almost the whole movie the picture is soft.

What a joke.

Read Best Reviews of The Fugitive (20th Anniversary Edition) (2013) Here

One of the greatest thrillers of all time, The Fugitive is a textbook example of a thriller that keeps its audience glued without insulting their intelligence. Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), a Chicago surgeon, is wrongly convicted of killing his wife (Sela Ward), escapes from prison and heads back to his hometown in search of the real killer, a mysterious one-armed man that Kimble struggled with in his house after his wife's murder. U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones, in his Oscar-winning role) and his deputies relentlessly pursue Kimble in and around Chicago, always staying a few steps behind.

This movie works on so many levels, but it begins with the actors. Harrison Ford, is one of his best roles, perfectly portrays the dignity and righteous indignation that Kimble feels. He should have received an Oscar nomination for the sheer physical and emotional effort that he put into this character. Jones is a perfect choice for Gerard: He is relentless, shrewd and sarcastic in his quest to track down Kimble. He always projects a smarmy, superior quality that attracts the viewer, yet makes us want him to lose his prey. The terrific supporting cast includes Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, Daniel Roebuck, and Jeroen Krabbe.

Director Andrew Davis takes the audience along for the chase, and uses Chicago as his landscape, including a busy St. Patrick's Day Parade for one scene. These locations enhance the film by using the city as a maze through which this chase occurs. Another terrific feature is James Newton Howard's score, which manages to add color and tension to scenes, even when there is no dialogue. Perfect all around, from acting, directing, composing and screenplay, The Fugitive should remain a classic.

Vote: 10

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The two stars are for the Blu-ray, not the film itself, which I love and would happily give 5 stars.

Other Blu-ray reviewers have referred to a "soft" picture. Actually it is literally *pixelated*.

If you take a close look at high-contrast edges, like the names of the actors during the opening title sequence, you can plainly see big blocky pixels that are far too large for 1080p. Based on that, and some occasional frame-blending artifacts, it is clear that the source transfer for this disc was a standard-def telecine (60i) like what would be broadcast on cable networks. The authors of this disc took that old SD master and did an inverse telecine pass to remove the pulldown/interlacing and get a 24p SD master. (Unfortunately there were a few errors at edit points, causing the aforementioned frame-blending.) Then it was upscaled to 1080p, but they didn't even do an interpolation algorithm, it's just nearest-neighbor pixel doubling. Yuck!

I will give it an extra star because (1) it's usually very cheap and (2) it's way better than the DVD. There are none of the old compression artifacts or edge enhancement here. But for a Blu-ray, it's very disappointing. It's barely worth the 8 bucks I spent on it.

Also I have to disagree with those who complained about the black levels. The contrast is fine, it's just that the film itself seems to have been shot in a run-and-gun medium-budget style that did not emphasize rich cinematography. There might be a little bit more range to eke out color-wise from the original film negative, if WB will ever break out the wallet and pay for a new transfer, but I'm betting there isn't much more depth to be had.

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