...still one of the best and most intelligent action movies to come out of Hollywood in a very long time
This is not to say "The Fugitive" displays the best HD image I have seen, however. The movie's look is purposely gritty, dark, and rough, like the location shooting itself in and around Chicago. The picture is reasonably sharp and well delineated, although overall the color is still not as vividly brilliant as in many other movies, nor was it probably meant to be. And grain and a bit of age noise continue as minor issues, with the high-definition processing, if anything, only making them more noticeable, contributing further to the movie's intentionally gritty appearance. So, it's not the best video in HD, but it's better than the SD version.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is fine, better than ever, in fact, when played back through the HD-DVD player's 5.1 analogue outputs. The sound exhibits good definition, clear transients, a fairly wide frequency range, and fairly good balance and localization in the surround channels. The movie emphasizes the use of music and special effects to enhance its varied moods rather than call attention to these things in and of themselves. The train wreck remains visually and sonically spectacular, helicopters flybys do their usual thing, subway cars rattle and roar in all directions, and dripping water falls convincingly around us, all it sounding a little more transparent in DD+ than in regular DD 5.1.
Extras:
The first time Warner Bros. issued this movie on DVD, they provided little in the way of special features. Then they released it in an unmarked special edition (the one I used for comparison) and added a few more extras, most of which we also find on this HD-DVD (although still in standard-definition, 480). The major bonus item is an audio commentary with Tommy Lee Jones and director Andrew Davis, with Davis doing most of the talking. Jones is a quiet fellow it seems, but when he does contribute something, it's usually worthwhile. Another thing that works well is an eight-minute documentary featurette called "Derailed: Anatomy of a Train Wreck," which describes in detail how it was cheaper for the director to use a real train and bus rather than build miniatures. Today, the whole sequence could be done digitally on a computer, but it would probably still cost more than using the real McCoy. A second documentary, "On the Run With the Fugitive," lasting twenty-three minutes, is more routine, a behind-the-scenes affair made up of some 1993 interviews and a few more-recent ones, the participants mainly discussing the importance of the location shooting in Chicago. There is also an introduction to the film, with the director and star.
Finally, there are forty-two scene selections; a theatrical trailer (now mysteriously in fullscreen rather than widescreen as in the previous edition); English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
The disc is packaged in WB's Elite Red HD case, but it comes with no chapter insert. As usual, you can pop up the disc menu during the film, where you will find not only the language choices, the extras, and scene selections, but a zoom-and-pan feature that allows you to zoom in by 2x, 4x, or 8x on any scene at any time and then maneuver around the frame. It's cute and clever, and it probably even has a purpose.
Parting Thoughts:
"The Fugitive" is still one of the best and most intelligent action movies to come out of Hollywood in a very long time, and it's one that especially benefits from the enjoyment of repeated viewing on disc. The new HD-DVD edition improves the picture as well as the sound enough to make it a further joy to watch. The film remains near the top of my list of all-time favorite adventure thrillers.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is fine, better than ever, in fact, when played back through the HD-DVD player's 5.1 analogue outputs. The sound exhibits good definition, clear transients, a fairly wide frequency range, and fairly good balance and localization in the surround channels. The movie emphasizes the use of music and special effects to enhance its varied moods rather than call attention to these things in and of themselves. The train wreck remains visually and sonically spectacular, helicopters flybys do their usual thing, subway cars rattle and roar in all directions, and dripping water falls convincingly around us, all it sounding a little more transparent in DD+ than in regular DD 5.1.
Extras:
The first time Warner Bros. issued this movie on DVD, they provided little in the way of special features. Then they released it in an unmarked special edition (the one I used for comparison) and added a few more extras, most of which we also find on this HD-DVD (although still in standard-definition, 480). The major bonus item is an audio commentary with Tommy Lee Jones and director Andrew Davis, with Davis doing most of the talking. Jones is a quiet fellow it seems, but when he does contribute something, it's usually worthwhile. Another thing that works well is an eight-minute documentary featurette called "Derailed: Anatomy of a Train Wreck," which describes in detail how it was cheaper for the director to use a real train and bus rather than build miniatures. Today, the whole sequence could be done digitally on a computer, but it would probably still cost more than using the real McCoy. A second documentary, "On the Run With the Fugitive," lasting twenty-three minutes, is more routine, a behind-the-scenes affair made up of some 1993 interviews and a few more-recent ones, the participants mainly discussing the importance of the location shooting in Chicago. There is also an introduction to the film, with the director and star.
Finally, there are forty-two scene selections; a theatrical trailer (now mysteriously in fullscreen rather than widescreen as in the previous edition); English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; English, French, and Spanish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
The disc is packaged in WB's Elite Red HD case, but it comes with no chapter insert. As usual, you can pop up the disc menu during the film, where you will find not only the language choices, the extras, and scene selections, but a zoom-and-pan feature that allows you to zoom in by 2x, 4x, or 8x on any scene at any time and then maneuver around the frame. It's cute and clever, and it probably even has a purpose.
Parting Thoughts:
"The Fugitive" is still one of the best and most intelligent action movies to come out of Hollywood in a very long time, and it's one that especially benefits from the enjoyment of repeated viewing on disc. The new HD-DVD edition improves the picture as well as the sound enough to make it a further joy to watch. The film remains near the top of my list of all-time favorite adventure thrillers.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]19032[/release]