When it comes to the classic cat and mouse chase of cinema, few films have done it better than 1993’s classic The Fugitive, which starred Harrison Ford as a wrongfully-accused renegade on the run and Tommy Lee Jones as the hard-boiled US Marshall in hot pursuit. It’s no surprise that the film’s formula has been copied so often, with many other movies trying to recreate that tense and winning magic.
It’s about to be copied once more, except only this time a lot more closely and in bite-sized format for struggling streaming service Quibi. This remake of The Fugitive will star Kiefer Sutherland as the US Marshall in pursuit of Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), a blue-collar ex-con who is falsely accused of planting a bomb that destroys a Los Angeles subway train.
Kiefer Sutherland (24) and Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) star in this edge-of-your-seat crime thriller from the creator of Most Dangerous Game and co-executive producer of Prison Break, in which an innocent man on the run, desperate to clear his name, is chased through Los Angeles by the cop who will not rest until he is captured.
Well, I can’t fault the casting choices in this series, as Sutherland looks like the perfect match for a Tommy Lee Jones-style US Marshall. Though we perhaps don’t get to see enough of Holbrook in his role to determine just how good he may be. What this trailer does lack though is a consistent production quality, with some scenes coming across as well produced and others looking particularly shoddy. Hopefully that doesn’t detract from any of the on-screen tension.
I’m also interested in seeing how this concept will work in Quibi’s bite-sized format, which one can only assume will lead to small doses of a neverending chase in each episode. Each episode will be between 7 and 10 minutes long, which could either allow it to be filled to the brim with excitement or fall part hopelessly as it struggles to grab you with a lack of character development.
Quibi has yet to officially release in South Africa, but with the streaming service struggling to penetrate the markets it has already released in, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get to see this and its other bite-sized series in some other format on the web when it inevitably shuts down.
Last Updated: July 27, 2020
