Along Came a Spider

The plot starts out in a very straight-forward manner: a man with an ambition to become criminal legend kidnaps the daughter of a congressman right out from under the nose of the FBI. He then sends a note and a sneaker of the girl to Detective Alex Cross, hence forcing him out of his self-inflicted isolation, the reasons of which are explained in the opening scene. Along with the FBI agent who was in charge of security at the scene of the crime, he follows the clues laid out by the kidnapper in order to find the girl. And so the story goes.

The kidnapper is portrayed by the always formidable Michael Wincott, the best serial villain on that side of the Atlantic. He should have the Best Supporting Role awards piled up in his attic. Alex Cross, whom we remember from "Kiss the Girls", and portrayed by Morgan Freeman, is just the kind of cop you like best: sincere, sympathetic, intelligent, thorough and committed. Monica Potter features as the FBI agent determined to redeem herself after she let the kidnapper escape.

This may not be a blockbuster, but this solid and underrated thriller delivers what so few of them have to offer these days: a final plot twist that genuinely surprises. It shall not be revealed here.

Overall I enjoyed Along Came a Spider, it wasn't absolutely brilliant, but it sets out to be a good thriller and does that. Even with some plot implausibilities, a so-so performance from Monica Potter and one or two moments of forced pacing, it is well made and suspenseful. The cinematography is skillful and stylish, and the music is nicely done and adds to the suspense. The pace in general is brisk, apart from it being forced on occasions when it tried to fit in too many plot twists, and the story springs from an interesting concept. The script has some very good moments, and the direction is very good. The performances apart from Monica Potter are strong, with Morgan Freeman great as always and Michael Wincott solid as the kidnapper. Mika Boorem shows promise as a blossoming young actress, and Penelope Ann Miller does a very nice job as her mother. Overall, decent thriller, with problems, but carried by its cast primarily. 7/10 Bethany Cox

¨Along Came a Spider¨ (2001) by Lee Tamahori boasts a good cast with Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, accompanied by a large number of secondary acquaintances giving acceptable interpretations tailored to his roles. This notable mystery thriller results to be the second entry on Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), a Washington D. C. cop and forensic psychologist. This time Detective Cross must join forces with Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), in order to catch a dangerous criminal, Gay Soneji (Michael Wincott), who seeks notoriety in his crimes. He wants his crimes to be considered the most important and difficult to solve and to achieve this he weaves a cunning plot. The trap is comparable to the web that spiders create to trap their victims and their pursuers. It all begins with the disappearance of a senator's daughter (Mika Boorem). A tangled web of danger and deceit...!.The game is far from over !. Two cops on the trail of a brutal killer !. They must see as one, they must act as one, they must think as one, before the next victim falls !.

Veteran Freeman (Slevin Case, Batman Begins) reprises his role as forensic detective Alex, which he played before in ¨Kiss the girls¨. On this occasion he shares the spotlight with the young Monica Potter (Saw, 5 Men for Lucy). A thrilling film with big name cast and full of action, tension, entertainment, twists and turns. Morgan Freeman lends his authorative presence to the central role as Washington, D. C. detective and forensic psychologist Alex Cross who's assigned the case of an abducted little girl and he'll stop at nothing to free her. Following a fascinating first 15 minutes the movie loses impetus as the writer struggles to spin it out towards almost two-hour length. Gripping, dark, and tense movie is packed with intrigue from the beginning to the end. In this thrilling, grim and suspenseful film, developing a game of cat and mouse between a creepy murderer and Alex Cross. It isn't too hard to figure what follows from this contrived scenario: lots of gruesome slayings to be picked over, moody set-pieces where Freeman has to creep around in the dark wondering if the maniac is going to leap out. The material is well known and clichéd at times, no doubt, but all concerned give it top class treatment. This is a modern and impressive thriller that meets all the requirements of the genre, belonging to the new generation of intrigue films from the late 90s and early 2000s. Director Tamahori already had experience in mystery stories and demonstrates it efficiently. On this occasion we once again have a stellar couple of actors leading the cast. On the one hand, the Afro-American actor Morgan Freeman is a guarantee at the box office by playing a police hunting for a serial kidnapper. Next to him appears the actress Monica Potter, somewhat unknown at that time, she is terrific as the stubborn agent. The great duo of protagonists are well accompanied by a wonderful supporting cast, such as: Michael Wincott, Dylan Baker, Mika Boorem, Anton Yelchin, Kim Hawthorne, Jay O. Sanders, Billy Burke, Michael Moriarty, Penelope Ann Miller, Anna Maria Horsford, among others.

Adapted from the novel by James Patterson and a triloy is made: the first is ¨Kiss the girls¨ (1997) by Gary Fleder with Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Alex McArthur, Tony Goldwyn, Jay O. Sanders, Bill Nunn, Brian Cox, Richard T. Jones, Roma Maffia, Jeremy Piven, Gina Ravera, William Converse-Roberts. ¨Along Came a Spider¨(2001) and ¨Alex Cross¨ (2012) by Rob Cohen in which Freeman is replaced by Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Edward Burns .

Filmmaker Lee Tamahori is enough of a technician to make sure the movie pushes the right intrigue buttons, and the art direction at the crime scenes is so hideous that isn't apt for squeamish. This mysterious and interesting motion picture was compellingly directed by Lee Tamahori, he skillfully orchestrates a cool film plenty of suspense, action, thrilling moments and plot twists. The flick works pretty well and is paced along admirably but also packs some brief flawed scenes.

It displays a pulsing and suspenseful musical score by the great veteran Jerry Goldsmith, a musician expert on mysterious and tense enviroments. Likewise , a brilliant and colorful cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti. The motion picture was compellingly directed by Lee Tamahori. But he borrows heavily from ¨Seven¨, ¨Silence of the lambs¨, and others films of the genre, and this psycho-killer thriller at times falls far short. Lee Tamahori is a craftsman (Once Were Warriors, The edge, Mullholand Falls, XXX: State of Union, The Convert, Along came a spider) who has directed successful action movies and made it much better in James Bond series (Die another day). Rating: 6.5/10. Above average.

Even if there are a few (and not very important) credibility problems, this movie doesn't make big mistakes: Directing, acting, the plot including a real "WTF"-twist: Everything is fine. And believe me, I have seen a lot of bad thrillers to see: This one is really one of the good ones.

So, if you want to have a nice evening with a good movie: Watch it. You won't get disappointed.

The only thing why I don't give more than seven points: You will enjoy this movie, but you will not keep it in mind. There is no genious moments just a few thrillers of all times have.

But this can't be your expectations. So: Watch it and have a good time.

When a senator's daughter gets kidnapped from a exclusive private school by her teacher Gary Soneji, the FBI are called in. However the kidnapper has his own agenda and phones Alex Cross, sucking him into the case even though he has not worked for almost a year due to the guilt he feels over the death of his partner. With the killer leaving him clues, Cross realises that Soneji is after fame and is using him to communicate to the world. Taking on Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan as his partner, Cross tries to work out enough about Soneji to profile and catch him.

It has been too many years since I saw Kiss The Girls for me to be able to comment on the quality or lack thereof in the first film but I decided to give this sequel a try anyway. From the opening scene this is pure Hollywood with its clunky CGI and its simplistic plot device of the dead partner and so we continue with a fairly uninspiring thriller that is engaging enough but never does anything that special. It doesn't help that the primetime schedules are full of versions of Alex Cross in TV series mysteries but generally this film just plods its way through a story that isn't "obvious" so much as it is uninspiring. It is an enjoyable enough mystery that is professionally handled but it lacks imagination and flair. The twists come but the film is not exciting enough to prevent the audience from thinking and, in thinking it is easy to rip massive holes in the logic of the whole thing – and thinking a plot is a bit silly doesn't help keep one interested. Tamahori directs without any distinction – he isn't bad but again he doesn't do anything of that much interest.

Instead he sits back and hopes that Morgan Freeman doing Morgan Freeman's "Zen-cool™" will be enough to carry the audience along with the whole affair. Luckily for him this does work to some degree because Freeman on his day could sell shoes to fish. He is solid and professional even if he is underserved by the script. Wincott is good in a role that he could have made more of but instead is controlled and restrained. Potter is blond and dull and is not suited one jot to the role that her character grows into during the film. Baker deserves a bigger role while Miller, Horsford and a few others provide familiar faces.

Overall then an entertaining but uninspired affair that pushes the right buttons but doesn't aspire to anything beyond the genre. The cast and the budget help but the story gets weaker the longer it goes on and although it will do enough for some viewers, it is nothing that special.