Fled (1996)

Director: Kevin Hooks

Cast:  Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Baldwin, Will Patton

Synopsis: Two prisoners chained together flee during an escape attempt gone bad.

The first half of Fled is effectively a semi-remake of The Defiant Ones (without the racial overtones) as we see chained together computer hacker Stephen Baldwin (Posse, The Usual Suspects) and undercover cop Larry Fishburne (The Matrix, Man of Steel) flee from a chain gang. Their bid for freedom is complicated by the fact that Baldwin and his partner hacked into the computer system of a Mafia mobster who is now desperate to get his hands on the disk they have containing the information. The odd couple are aided in their escape by an accommodating Salma Hayek (After the Sunset, Lonely Hearts).

Fled is highly derivative of other action movies, but also has the kind of momentum that prevents you from disliking it too much. Just when you’re starting to dwell on the pedestrian dialogue, the clichéd situations or the plot holes, another action set piece comes along and makes you forget them all for a while. The characters are also constantly referencing other movies throughout – a clue perhaps that the screenwriter Preston A. Whitmore has allowed himself to be influenced by too many of the films he has seen and liked while penning this opus.

Fled is best viewed as bubble-gum for the brain when you’re tired of thinking and just want to sit back and sink a couple of beers in front of the TV.

(Reviewed 20th February 2012)