r-angle
I saw this on CATV, and I missed the opening sequence. Went back and saw it later, and it's laughable.
But the rest of this flick is great. It's well done and suspenseful. Every actor is great, especially Morgan Freeman, of course, and the lovely lady, played by Monica Potter. The story actually makes sense. They made a great movie out of what was probably a pretty bad book. Have not read it. Can't usually wade through James Patterson's stuff.
See this one. It's fun.
nilen-51573
When I see a movie, especially a movie that is trying to put on a complex puzzle that the characters is trying to solve I start to dislike it when it don't fit or if the character by just pure chance did something that just happens to get them closer to solve the mystery and stop the "bad guy". In this movie it happen when they seamlessly just start to watch the Russian kids home because of a passing though that the kidnapper maybe is after him. Then that night when the kidnapper was going to kidnap the kid just happens to be that night they where watching the house. Its a to easy way to bring the story forward.Then the twist in the end of the movie is really bad. Two other people knew of the kidnapping and was going to profit of it. So he was not a master planer and his plan could have been stopped before it even began. These two people where in charge of locking down the school when the alarm when of and did not do it so the kidnappers plan could be successful. So he did not think of everything and would have failed if just the security had done its job. This is also not though of by any character before the end of the movie which I find hard to believe. It should have been the first thing that is brought up when the Girl was kidnapped.
bkoganbing
Morgan Freeman made his second appearance as police detective/profiler Alex Cross in Along Came The Spider. Cross is a man of both thought and action and Freeman certainly covers both aspects of his character well.Michael Wincott plays a master criminal who Cross has been on the trail of in the past. His latest scheme involves the kidnapping of young Mika Boorem who is the daughter of US Senator Michael Moriarty. The young lady rates some Secret Service protection which is never really gone into other than possibly Moriarty is announced candidate for president.But her detail which is in the charge of Monica Potter is completely outfoxed by Wincott in disguise who snatches Boorem right from the grounds of an exclusive school that she attends. Wincott then practically invites his old adversary Freeman in on the hunt by sending an article of clothing that Boorem wore to Freeman's house.What seems to be a battle of wits between Freeman and Wincott at first is far from that. There are a couple of other players in this game and they just might be holding the winning hand.I really was impressed with how Freeman got into all aspects of Detective Alex Cross. This man is intelligent and compassionate and is not easily fooled. Those other players in the game think they've got Freeman bamboozled, but he's far from that.Along Came A Spider is an intelligent action thriller with major kudos going to Morgan Freeman for his portrayal of Alex Cross.
Rickting
I read the book this is based on shortly before watching this and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was interested to see the film. Like the book, this is about detective Alex Cross investigating a child abduction. As much as I love Morgan Freeman he's not my choice for Alex Cross and he's miscast in this OK but totally average thriller. Looking at the film from an objective point of view, this is an OK film technically but when compared to the book, it lacks the depth, twists and thrills which made the book such a non stop nightmare. Morgan Freeman is less interesting than usual and miscast and the film is in general just forgettable. To be fair, you can't really expect much from the person who did Die Another Day and if you haven't read the book you'll likely find this watchable and moderately entertaining. It's got plenty of tense moments and is more patient and mature than some films of its kind. The visuals are decent as is the script (despite a multitude of plot holes) and the film never becomes unwatchable.The main problem is that it's so generic and wasteful of the source material. It goes down the road into cliché town with great enthusiasm and never really hits a peak. It can be dull and it has quite a few implausible situations. The revelation of Jessie Flanagan as the antagonist made sense in the book, but it doesn't here. The film is also derivative of better things and doesn't add anything whatsoever to the detective genre. There is apparently another Morgan Freeman film, which adapts the slightly inferior but still good sequel Kiss The Girls. That is apparently even more unfaithful so I don't plan to watch it. How bearable you find the film pretty much depends on whether or not you've read the book. It lacks charisma or soul, but makes up for it since it has a certain sense of dread, tension and realism. An OK movie. Nothing more. Nothing less.5/10
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