Fugitive redux

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2002)

This film may appear to be Spielberg's take on a Philip K Dick theme, but underneath it is really a remake of the Harrison Ford vehicle, The Fugitive -- turning that film into a genre distinguished by (a) a protagonist who must solve the crime while him- or (theoretically) herself being hunted, (b) the grand chase scene early in the film, with the whodunit aspects toward the end [a reversal on the old cop thriller formula], (c) a betrayal by a colleague or superior. It is exceptionally well-done (save maybe for the last scene, which is every bit as mawkish and hokey as the last scenes in Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List -- somebody should tell Spielberg to just cut the final scene of his films) and, in its rather cool machine-like approach to the elements of the narrative, even more Kubrikian in its tone than was A.I. (Spielberg's most underrated film).