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Flee This Movie

Fled, starring Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Baldwin, and Salma Hayek; directed by Kevin Hooks

The makers of Fled want you to believe their movie is cut from the same cloth as The Defiant Ones, 48 HRS, and Lethal Weapon, but the only thing it has in common with those films are a black guy, a white guy, and a heap of violence. The trouble starts with the casting-- Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin may be very nice young men, but Poitier and Curtis, Murphy and Nolte , Glover and Gibson they're not. The script only makes matters worse: it's not exciting, it's not engrossing, and it's certainly not funny.

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The film opens with the delivery of a bomb hidden in a Chinese take-out order, silencing the state's star witness against Cuban crime lord Frank Mantajano (Michael Nader). But the case is not lost--it happens that imprisoned computer hacker Luke Dodge (Stephen Baldwin) downloaded Frank's accounting records while he was embezzling $25 million from the don's coffers. Naturally, the D.A. arranges a prison break in the hope that Luke will lead him to the disc, and Luke soon finds himself running through the Georgia backwoods, chained to the surly Charles Piper (Laurence Fishburne). The two spend much of their time trying to break each other's noses, then kidnap the impossibly cooperative Cora ( Salma Hayek ). She unchains the unhappy couple and gives them new clothes, while both the state and the Mafia continue in hot pursuit.

15 The rest of the plot is so predictable it hardly warrants description. A sprinkling of subpar stunts is interrupted by strenuous attempts by Baldwin and Fishburne to be funny. At one point, Baldwin tires of Fishburne literally yanking his chain as they run through the wilderness, so Baldwin suggests they find a rhythm. "I've got your rhythm right here," Fishburne announces, pulling out a harmonica and blowing a little ditty. The two dance a silly jig and go on their merry way. Then there's the way Baldwin's character constantly refers Fishburne to other, better movies: "Didn't you ever see The Fugitive?" he asks; "Didn't you ever see Deliverance?"; finally, in an embarrassingly desperate moment, Baldwin belts him in the face and says, "Didn't you ever see What's Love Got To Do With It?"--a reference to the Tina Turner biopic in which Fishburne played an abusive Ike Turner.

Director Kevin Hooks (Passenger 57) might have fared better by exploiting the reluctant-partners-become-friends formula, but Piper and Dodge loathe one another throughout the film. As it stands, Hooks gives no reason for the audience to care about the movie's outcome, much less a clue that he cares himself. When things as simple as continuity are overlooked--Baldwin and Fishburne jump off a bridge chained together, but we see Baldwin flailing in the air unchained--it's a big hint the director won't sweat larger details like character development. In the end, the best performances Hooks gets are from the pair of red Ducati motorcycles Baldwin and Fishburne ride. -- Greg Lee

(Rated R for language, violence, and brief nudity.)

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