FLED (1996) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Kevin Hooks Writer: Preston A. Whitmore II Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Baldwin, Will Patton, Salma Hayek, Robert John Burke, Robert Hooks, Victor Rivers, David Dukes, Brittney Powell, Bill Belamy, Ru Paul
What's the coolest thing about these little "Free Weekends" of premium channels like "HBO," "Cinemax," and all those other ones is that you get to see (usually) uncut films for free that you would never pay more than a quarter to see. I watched "Fled" mainly because I knew it wouldn't be great at all, but might offer some kind of entertainment. I was sorta right.
"Fled" is basically your run-of-the-mill cheapo action pic which features two guys feuding with one another and running from the law and the mafia (either italian, russian, or cuban - this time it's the latter), using cliches from films you've seen way before and liked way better, and ends in the two guys becoming friends at the end after defeating the main villain, although being belligerent friends. Yes, I told you the whole story, but you've seen it before anyway.
What makes "Fled" just a little bit different is that it kind of embraces the cliches it uses. Like "Scream" it rips off films, and just gets off on that, as one of the two protagonists says "Didn't you see [place film name here]?" after each rip-off. But, of course, there's no reason for this other than to be cute and kinda witty, which it is, but that doesn't mean it's a good film. But we do get references from "The Fugitive" to "Deliverance," and even a pretty funny final reference which is even funnier if you know the filmography of Fishburne.
In fact, the plot of "Fled," at least in the first half hour or so, is inescapibly reminiscent of the film classic "The Defiant Ones," where Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier were escaped convicts handcuffed together. The two guys in this are, again, black and white, and are played by the suave Laurence Fishburne (named Piper) and the kinda dorky but trying to be cool twentieth Baldwin brother, Stephen (named Dodge - love these names), and are again escaped convicts, but unfortunately are de-chained about 40 minutes or so in the film, right about the time the film becomes redundant and boring.
As the film goes on, we learn of conspiracies on top of conspiracies on top of more conspiracies, as well as some police corruption, and a couple cops connection to the cuban mafia. The film tries to unfold in a cool manner, with twists in the story coming about because all the truth is witheld at first, but they instead feel cheap instead of great like they did in, say, "L.A. Confidential" (why am I mentioning this film in THIS review?!). For instance: we never know why Dodge is in, but we find out he's a computer hacker, and he hacked 25 million bucks from some people who want it back. Funny: I thought Stephen Baldwin looked like a hacker too!
In these kinds of films, we have to get the obligatory chicks for each of these guys, and we do: one who is not really necessary but interestingly played, and one who is boring but at leasy she's topless. Salma Hayek (who reportedly hated doing the nudity in "Desperado") plays the former, and, as I said, does it pretty well, although she's not really essential or anything. And the second one (played by Brittney Powel) is even less essential, needed just for some nudity.
The film has lots of action sequences, which range from fun to boring and redundant, as it is a chase movie (yea). Director Kevin Hooks ("Passenger 57") creates every action scene to be a shock, but I swear you can smell each one coming 10 minutes away. There's one of these every couple minutes, and the final one, which is small compared to all the others, seems extremely anti-climactic. They're not very well done either, never realy garnering any excitement, but occasionally prompting a snicker. John Woo Hooks is not.
Fishburne does give a pretty commanding performance though (big shock there), while Baldwin sinckers occasionally, but never really garners any likability for his role. I mean, what's he doing playing a hacker? Hayek is pretty okay, while the other chick is boring and pretty un-sexy for a stripper (another fault: a hacker dating a stripper). Will Patton is pretty good though, even though he has way too many horrific lines ("when you spit into the wind...it may come back!" or something like that). And we get some distracting cameos from Bill Belamy and Ru Paul, I guess added for cuteness as well.
Bottom line: "Fled" is semi-entertaining, and won't you to watch it, but it's too boring to pay to see. But even if it's for free, you still have to waste about an hour and a half of your life watching it.
MY RATING (out of 4): **
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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