Alex Cross

I keep referring to this movie with different names. First I call it Alex Perry, then Tyler Cross. But those are wrong. It’s actually Alex Cross starring Tyler Perry. The film has Perry take over the lead role from Morgan Freeman who played the part in the 1997 film Kiss the Girls and 2001’s Along Came a Spider. This time the title character must track down an assassin (Matthew Fox) going after high ranking business people. But after a face to face encounter, Cross and his partners, played by Edward Burns and Rachel Nichols, become the killer’s target.

The film uses an interesting and extremely creepy villain, referred to as Picasso, in order to build tension. Fox went through a major physical transformation for the part and is rewarded by being the only memorable part of what appears on screen. Perry, who also lost weight, though in a less drastic way than Fox, for the film, falls flat as a predictable revenge driven cop. I don’t necessarily blame Perry for this. That’s the character in the script.

Trusty Wikipedia tells me there are 19 Alex Cross novels written by James Patterson. Fans of the series may discover some predictability in the books since there are so many, but there is no reason the first movie in a rebooted film series should be so obvious. The characters are mostly archetypes that are able to elicit the proper emotion from the audience, but very few are at all layered. For those looking for an exciting crime drama, Alex Cross fits. One problem (besides the script, which is definitely the main issue) may be the fall release of the film. Sandwiched between dense award-season films and fall/winter blockbusters, there really isn’t space for this kind of project. It would have done better in January or February.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.