Fled -

Bland action and a slew of movie references can’t save the prison-break movie Fled. Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin are two convicts chained together on a work detail in Georgia (in the spirit of The Defiant Ones). When another prisoner assaults a guard and starts a firefight, Fishburne and Baldwin make a quick escape. Unfortunately, Baldwin may have some information desperately wanted by both the district attorney, and the more dangerous Cuban Mafia. Will Patton is the Georgia detective who originally tracked down Baldwin, and who is enlisted to help find the fugitive. And Salma Hayek is featured as a civilian who (for reasons unexplained) decides to help the criminal duo. There are a couple of plot twists, neither one too surprising, and plenty of action scenes, notable only for their lack of style and excitement. The film is packed with movie references, from Shaft and Deliverance to the Fugitive and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Unfortunately, most of them are throwaway references good for only a chuckle (though a jab at What’s Love Got to Do With It seems inspired). The plot makes a couple of jumps that don’t seem to make sense except to advance to yet another action scene. If only those scenes were worth the wait.