“Along Came a Spider” – R – New This Week to Video/DVD-
In 1997’s Kiss The Girls we were introduced to detective Dr. Alex Cross. Dr. Cross has been called back to duty for this thriller by none other than the killer himself.
The movie opens with Dr. Cross (Morgan Freeman) during an undercover sting operation. Something goes terribly wrong and he looses his partner. Everyone thinks he is all washed up until the man who kidnaps a little girl calls him. The girl, Megan Rose (Mika Boorem) is the daughter of a Senator. She attends a school for important kids, which is protected by the Secret Service. One day her very own teacher, Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), takes her from school. Soneji’s plan is to become famous for a kidnapping much like the Lindberg kidnapping of years ago. He calls out for Dr. Cross to make that happen.
Dr. Cross is partnered up with the Secret Service agent who never saw this coming, Jessie (Monica Potter). Together they try to close in on this kidnapper. Soneji always seems to be one step ahead, but Dr. Cross is patient and knows sooner or later Soneji will slip up. But will it be too late for Megan?
This screenplay, written by Marc Moss, was taken from the Novel by James Patterson. It was directed by Lee Tamahori. When I start watching thrillers lately, it seems that they all have the same premise. I was happily surprised to see this one twist and turn off of the given topic. I never knew what to expect and that was a nice change. It gets boring when you can predict what will happen in a movie within the first 10 minutes. That didn’t happen here.
Morgan Freeman did a great job, as usual. He is put in these kinds of roles for a reason; he can perform in them. Monica Potter, on the other hand, is usually a romantic comedy actress. She was probably put into this role to break that cycle a little. She did do that. She was actually good at the role of Secret Service Agent.
The ending of the movie ruined it for me. I won’t be giving it away, but it did insult the viewer’s intelligence a bit. But, happily, it wasn’t a bad movie! I would recommend it to fans of thrillers and of Morgan Freeman.
Enjoy!
©2001 KAC