It's important to note that "The Fugitive" was a remake of a 60s TV show by the same name (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugitive_(1963_TV_series)), which is only briefly mentioned in the article. That's probably the origin of the down-to-earth storyline and also the relatively corny stuff like the one armed man. I wonder if the script would have had a chance even in the nineties if it would have been an original script rather than a remake of a relatively successful (4 seasons, 120 episodes) TV series.
And trying to recycle what makes money is not something Hollywood stopped doing. It just keeps doing it over and over. New ideas are risky, how about another Batman reboot?
