It's a cliche itself for film critics to rant about a bad movie by pointing out its numerous cliches and contrivances. But in point of fact, it would be difficult to think of a movie less formulaic and derivative than Fled, a buddy action flick that makes a strict rule to forego creativity.

Fled does not contain cliches, it is a cliche. The plot has two prisoners, handcuffed together, escaping into the wilderness. They hate each other at first, but gradually begin to respect each other. There's no prominent villain, just a lot of badguys running around shooting co-stars as they are about to impart valuable information to the main characters.

This is not uncommon for a lot of braindead action flicks; after all, many of them are made as excuses for inducing adrenaline rushes. But the action scenes in Fled are pathetically uninspired. The two fugitives outrun a train in the beginning. There's a fist fight in a high place at the end so the badguy can fall, screaming, to his death. In between, the action scenes consist exclusively of gun fights and fist fights. That's it. People don't even run around that much, they just trade shots and punches. No innovative uses of nearby props to augment the action. Ridiculously gratuitous set-ups. Fled overuses the same action cliches so much that by the end you'll be thirsting for the other cliches that aren't featured.

The worst part is the inane dialogue. Scarcely a word uttered is convincing, and more than a few lines will induce nervous laughs of disbelief.

For masochists only.