FLED

"FLED"
(1996) (Stephen Baldwin, Laurence Fishburne) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Minor	Heavy	Moderate	Mild	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	None	Minor	Moderate	Extreme

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Moderate	Moderate	Minor	Minor	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Action/Adventure: Two convicts flee during a prison break and then try to retrieve a computer disk that both the feds and the Cuban mafia want.

PLOT:: Piper (LAURENCE FISHBURNE) and Dodge (STEPHEN BALDWIN) are two convicts who end up shackled together just before a work crew riot. They take off and soon the Attorney General's office has a U.S. Marshall on the case. Informed of the escape, local cop Gibson (WILL PATTON) starts getting suspicious of the feds interest in Dodge (who Gibson had earlier arrested). He finds out that Dodge has a hidden computer disk that contains information that could be very damaging to a Cuban mafioso, Frank Mantajano (MICHAEL NADER). So from then on Piper, who turns out to be a cop on the case, and Dodge must flee from Mantajano's hit man, Santiago (VICTOR RIVERS) and from the corrupt federal agents who want to retrieve the computer disk.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Maybe. It's a violent action filled movie and Fishburne and Baldwin may have some drawing power, but not enough to make lots of kids want to see this one.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R: For strong violence and language, and for some nudity.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: Other than WILL PATTON, the rest of the major cast members portray bad people who break into computer systems ( STEPHEN BALDWIN), are bad cops (LAURENCE FISHBURNE) or are just plain criminals or hitmen. They're not a good crop of role models.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

OUR TAKE: 2 out of 10: This is a very bad movie. We're usually more lenient with summer action films and cut them some slack in the "Oh, come on" category. But beyond the fact that we've seen all of this before (fugitives on the run, white and black guys who become partners and can't stand each other, and frequent comparative references to far better films -- "The Fugitive," "The Godfather," "Deliverance") there are so many implausibilities and just plain, stupid behavior in this film that it nearly drives you crazy. For instance, the major female character (SALMA HAYEK) is car jacked by two men handcuffed together in prison garb and all she can worry about is that her place is a mess when they make her take them there. Once there, she's nonchalant about them, unlocks their handcuffs (with a handcuff key conveniently left there by her ex-husband cop) gives them a change of her ex-husbands clothes (also convenient) and then gets romantic with Piper. In another scene, Piper easily shoots and breaks a thin rope that's holding Dodge from a good distance, and yet in another scene when confronted by the bad guy a few feet away, can't hit him with several shots. This film should be shown at film schools detailing how not to make a film. We could go on and on about this, but we realize you've probably heard enough. We give this stinker a minimal 2 out of 10.

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:: The movie is very violent with many deaths. There's a scene in a strip joint with topless dancers who bump and grind, and there's an extreme dose of profanity. It's an ugly action film and we advise you to keep your kids, pets, neighbors and anyone else you can think of away from this one (not necessarily because of objectionable material, but because it's a bad film).

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: A woman on a boat drinks champagne.
Dodge and others drink beer at a strip joint.

BLOOD/ GORE: A convict (with some blood running down his face), shoots and kills many prison guards. Lots of blood spurts from them as they're hit by the bullets.
A convict is shot in the heart and blood squirts out from the wound.
Dodge is a bit bloody from an earlier beating and then is cut by Santiago with a scalpel that opens a bloody wound.
Many of the people who are shot and killed throughout the rest of the movie have blood spurt from their wounds.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: A federal Marshall shoots and kill one of the escaped convicts even though the man had given up and stood with his hands in the air. He later turns sides and agrees to take cash from Mantajano.
A local hunter who encounters Piper and Dodge handcuffed together wonders what a white boy is doing cuffed to a black man. The hunter is obviously a racist.
Obviously all of the bad guys have bad attitudes, particularly Mantajano and his hitman, Santiago.

FRIGHTENING/TENSE SCENES: If you find gun battle scenes tense, then this film is full of tension. If not, there's not much here to make you break a sweat.
Piper and Dodge find themselves running from a train through a tunnel where they come out onto a bridge from which they must jump to avoid being hit.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Shotguns: Used by both the good and bad guys to injure or kill many, many people. For details, see "Violence."
Bomb: Used to kill a federal witness and federal agents.
Scalpel: Used to cut Dodge.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Nigger," "Bitch," "Pissed," and "Shut up."

JUMP SCENES: None.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): Some of the scenes have heavily dramatic music that might come across as tense.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): Several rap songs have profanities in them (listed in "Profanity").
Another rap song is sung from the perspective of a criminal fleeing the law.

PROFANITY: 34 "f" words (3 with the prefix "mother"), 37 "s" words, 1 slang term each for female genitals and breasts (the "p" and "t" words), 23 hells, 16 "ass" words, 7 damns, 4 S.O.B.'s, and 5 uses of "God damn," and 1 of "Jesus" as exclamations.

SEX/NUDITY: A prisoner comes on to Dodge in a homosexual fashion while they're on road cleanup duty.
Piper urinates in the woods and when Dodge asks if he's done yet, Piper replies, "Not unless you want to wipe it off for me." (No nudity seen)
A strip club scene shows bare breasts and butts as the women suggestively dance and grind their pelvises on the dance poles.

SMOKING: A federal witness smokes as he's questioned by the feds.
Santiago is often seen smoking cigars.
People smoke in a strip joint.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: Dodge laments (for a very brief time) over the murder of his stripper girlfriend.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: How such a bad movie like this can be made and released.

VIOLENCE: A federal witness, and federal agents are killed by an explosive that's delivered in a container of Chinese food.
Dodge hits another prisoner (who's making homosexual comments to him) with a shovel in the face, legs, and gut.
Piper and Dodge, handcuffed together, get into a fight where punches are thrown to the body and face and Dodge tries to strangle Piper with a chain.
A prisoner pulls a guard's gun and shoots several other guards dead and then shoots at Dodge and Piper as they flee the area. The prison bus leaks gasoline and then explodes when hit by a shotgun blast.
Gibson chases an escaped convict, fights with him, and when the convict gives up, a federal Marshall shoots him dead.
Piper and Dodge fight once again while handcuffed. More punches are thrown.
Piper and Dodge encounter a redneck hunter who holds a gun on them. Piper knocks the gun away, it discharges, and he then hits the man who ends up having a heart attack and dies.
Gibson pulls out his gun and shoots it at his boss, but it's filled with blanks (he's showing him evidence that he found).
A house is ransacked as the bad guys search for a missing computer disk.
Dodge's girlfriend is shot in the eye as she looks out through her peephole. Dodge then fights with the bad guys and one of them gets shot. Santiago then knocks out Dodge.
Dodge is then seen hanging by his tied hands from the ceiling. A bad guy punches him in the gut, and then Santiago threatens to burn Dodge with his cigar. The bad guy then punches Dodge several more times.
Santiago then cuts Dodge with a small scalpel. Piper bursts in and there's a big gun battle where many bad guys are killed.
Piper and Dodge then flee from the police who open fire on them, shattering the back window of their car.
Police chase Piper and Dodge in their cars and there is some car related damage, including two police cars that explode as they run into each other.
There's another big, bloody gun battle in a massage parlor where several more people are killed.
There's another bloody gun battle where even more people are killed in the halls of the Georgia Dome.
Piper shoots at and causes Santiago's car to crash and flip over many times. All inside are killed.
There's the obligatory fight scene at the end in a stalled cable car where punches and kicks are thrown and in the end, Piper throws the bad Marshall to his death.
Dodge punches Piper at the very end.

Reviewed July 12, 1996

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