In the latest Film at 11 podcast, I take my son on a hunt for The Fugitive, the 1993 blockbuster thriller starring Harrison Ford as a wrongly convicted man on the run from the law. Joseph tells me he liked the movie a lot, even though he obviously had some problems following the plot. More than a few times while watching, he confusedly asked me, “Wait, who’s that guy?” or “What did he do?” I think we had a good discussion trying to sort it out afterward.

On my part, I’ve long had conflicted feelings about The Fugitive. I’ve always like the movie, but have also felt it was overrated and never understood its slew of Oscar nominations. When I saw it in the theater during the summer of 1993, I came out thinking the movie wasn’t half as exciting a thriller as the prior month’s In the Line of Fire, which I liked much more. I still feel that way, honestly, though this viewing somewhat tempered my disappointment. A couple decades since my last watch, The Fugitive holds up better than I expected.

Title:	The Fugitive
Year of Release:	1993
Director:	Andrew Davis
Watched On:	4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Also Available On:	Blu-ray Roku Channel Various VOD rental and purchase platforms/

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

A perennially popular catalog title, The Fugitive was an early launch release for the DVD format in 1997 and performed the same duties for both Blu-ray and its competitor HD DVD during the High-Def Format War in 2006. Sadly, both high-def formats at that time shared the same lousy, artifact-ridden video transfer. An improved remaster followed on Blu-ray in 2013, and eventually landed on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray another decade later in 2023.

Even with the great cinematographer Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) behind the camera, I’ve always felt that The Fugitive had rather bland, workmanlike photography, and I was mystified by the film’s Oscar nomination in that category. The movie didn’t look like anything special when I saw it in the theater in 1993, and that problematic early Blu-ray did it no favors at all. Part of me wondered if the 4K edition would finally be the revelation that opened my eyes to the hidden visual splendor of this film.

To be honest, not really. Make no mistake, the 4K remaster is significantly better than I’ve ever seen The Fugitive look on home video (keeping in mind that I never caught the 2013 Blu-ray), but this is still a pretty undistinguished-looking movie, in my opinion. Beyond one solitary shot of the green-dyed Chicago River during the St. Patrick’s Day parade sequence, I still can’t think of anything visually notable about the film at all.

That being the case, the 4K Ultra HD’s 1.85:1 image is pleasingly sharp and detailed, without looking artificially enhanced. Film grain may have been reduced in some scenes, but enough remains present to give the movie a nice texture. I suspect the otherwise drab colors may have been boosted at times (skin tones look a little flushed in some scenes), but not to an objectionable extent. Contrast is solid and the HDR grading is mostly restrained. Compared to the 4K edition of the same director’s Under Siege (review linked below), The Fugitive has a much more natural appearance of being shot on 35mm film.

For the record, a production flub at time code 18:57 where a crew member’s head was accidentally caught on camera has been digitally erased… again. That gaffe was visible on early VHS and Laserdisc releases, as well as the 1997 DVD. It was first erased for a 2001 DVD remaster, only to appear again in the 2006 Blu-ray. The latest version removes it once more.

The default soundtrack for the 4K Ultra HD is a new Dolby Atmos remix, though a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 option is also provided. Technically speaking, both are revisionist, as the movie played theatrically in Dolby Stereo four-channel surround format. I suppose the 5.1 would be closer to that, but I decided to give the Atmos a try anyway.

To be blunt, The Fugitive has no need for a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The movie has maybe two or three scenes with brief sounds of helicopters overheard, but otherwise makes no noticeable use of the height speakers. Even ground-level surround activity is mild. Bass seems to be boosted, more so in the musical score than in sound effects. When used, it often comes across as an annoying rumble. Meanwhile, gunshots, explosions, and even the famous train crash are all a bit underwhelming. The track also sounds a little sterile and may suffer some noise-reduction and roll-off of the high-end.

Those complaints aside, the Atmos track is fine overall. I’ve certainly heard a lot worse Atmos remixes. However, I’ve also heard better.

Aside from the half-hour retrospective Thrill of the Chase documentary (from 2013), other bonus features are all recycled from way back in the DVD days. These include an audio commentary by Andrew Davis and Tommy Lee Jones, a pointless 2-minute introduction mixing video of the director calling Jones on the phone with separate interview clips of a decidedly bored Harrison Ford, another 23-minute making-of piece, a much shorter featurette about the train crash, and a trailer.

Related

• The Fugitive
  • Josh’s grumpy review of the 2006 Blu-ray
• Andrew Davis (director) + Tommy Lee Jones
  • Under Siege (1992)
• Harrison Ford
  • 1923 series premiere (2022)
  • Blade Runner: Workprint Cut (1982)
  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – Film at 11 podcast
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) – Film at 11 podcast
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Film at 11 podcast
• Tommy Lee Jones
  • Batman Forever (1995)
  • A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the 1080p SDR streaming edition of the film, grabbed off a web browser, and are used for illustration purposes only.