Liens d'acier

Will Patton is one of our finest actors, having blessed the screen with a variety of memorable characters. Unfortunately, most of his performances seem to be in movies like this: generic action films which nobody has any need to remember. Sure, he gets to show up in great movies (NO WAY OUT), good movies (REMEMBER THE TITANS), and popular movies (ARMAGEDDON), but the man is a working actor who ain't embraced by the masses, so he also has to make movies like this. Not that this is a painfully bad movie... it's just so darn generic. And the testament to the man's performance is that there is nothing on paper that should make this a particularly great role. But darn it if he isn't the moral center of the movie.

If you don't know who this guy is, you can skip the movie with a clear conscience. But if you are a fan of the man, this performance is one of his best.

FLED is, perhaps, best watched very late at night after a bit of a drink when you don't seem to care about plot holes, bland characters and poor acting. Although not as diabolically awful as other reviewers have made out, this is a pretty bad remake of a great classic. What they seem to have forgotten is that when they made THE DEFIANT ONES, it was at a time where racial awareness was so topical - in FLED the conflict is represented by just one line.

The two leads are acceptable, with Laurence Fishburne flexing his fighting skills ready for THE MATRIX. Stephen Bladwin is his usual surly smouldering self, and there is a very small (ie no reason to watch it just for this!) part from Salma Hayek.

Although a little overdone, I enjoyed the film references made by Baldwin's character, and you will have a chuckle at the very final one...!

Fled is a cheerfully illogical actioner which rattles along at a seriously rapid pace without ever pausing for breath. It's stupid and spectacular in equal measure.

The plot hardly seems important, but for what it's worth here it is: a Cuban mafia boss has foolishly allowed himself to leave some incriminating evidence on a computer disk. The only guy who knows where the whereabouts of the disk is in a chain gang in the Deep South. An undercover cop is sent to the chain gang to find out where the disk is, and to keep the guy alive when the Cuban hitmen turn up to silence him.

The first half of the movie borrows liberally from The Defiant Ones, with Baldwin and Fishburne chained together and fleeing through the swamps from both the good guys and the bad guys. Later on, they reach the big city, and the film then borrows ideas from any police actioner that you could care to mention (Lethal Weapon, The Dead Pool, Tango and Cash, Striking Distance, et al). In fact, the second half of the film consists solely of fist fights and car chases and shootouts, all inspired by similar movies from the genre.

Fled never bores you, but it never particularly engages your brain. It is a quickly forgotten film, but it is also the perfect film to watch with your mates while you sink a six-pack of beer and a 16" pizza on a Friday night.

As with many movies, as long as the viewer doesn't read too much into the movie you will do OK! Its a fun fast paced road movie-ish, fugitive styled chase movie.

It's well filmed, and slickly edited for a low budget chase flick.The acting is simply and solidly done even if the dialogue is a tad cheesy. Steven Baldwin is the token down at the heel hero, Laurence Fishburne is cool as the mentor type character, pulling the hero out of one fix after another. Salma Hayek is as stunning as ever but the best character is Gib played by Will Hatton, a highly likable character whos putting the puzzle together as the heros run around.

Not a classic but worth a late night look see when you get home from the pub with a bag of munchies.

As average a film as you'll se. Not much to say on it. Starts off very well with much promise but once they unchain themselves turns into a run of the mill action film, nothing different. One or two of the subplots, the romances especially, seemed trivial. It may even of been a better story had Fishburne not been a copper and a different plot.

Quite why they didn't shoot the chain apart when they had the gun I don't know either, but they chose to drive, still attached. No character is especially warming, but there's a good cast, nothing wrong with the acting & great to see old Dex Dexter, Michael Nader in a role, as he was brilliant in Dynasty & never looked even slightly out of place here.

Better than it's 4.9 rating, but not by much.

6/10.