When Morgan Freeman first stepped into the shoes of James Patterson's "Alex Cross" in 1999's "Kiss The Girls," he crafted a version of the character that was faithful enough to the source material but original enough to be solidified as its own.
In 2001, Freeman returned to play Cross in "Along Came A Spider," a decidedly more ambitious foray into the world of Alex Cross that would expound on the original while pushing the series into the 2000s.
"Along Came A Spider" finds Alex Cross in a broken state, having lost his partner in its opening. Cross with the guilt of that death on his shoulders has less of an immediate desire to jump into a case or gain another partner. However, fate has different plans for him when the kidnapper of a U.S. senator's daughter and a guilt-ridden secret service agent (played by Monica Potter) comes to him to start the chase.
Freeman brings the calm genius of Alex Cross once again to the screen with ease, this time teaming up with Potter's Jezzie Flannigan to uncover the motivations as to why the kidnapper chooses Cross to taunt in a thriller that crisscrosses Washington D.C. with suspense, thrills and some pretty effective twist that anchor its final act.
While "Along Came A Spider" doesn't reinvent the wheel from its predecessor "Kiss The Girls," it makes enough changes so that the formula is similar but with enough changes to keep it from being too predictable.
Monica Potter is no Ashley Judd, but by the same token, their characters (and what they end up doing) are pretty different as well. Potter's performance falls a bit flat in the first act, but as the film goes on, it picks up steam. By the third act, she's of very real interest, and it's debatable if the disjointedness of her character in the first act is a reflection of the character as revealed in the finale. Perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't, but either way, the performance is enough to keep the moving rolling.
It's also true that this isn't a dual-billed film. While "Kiss The Spider" is centered around Freeman and Judd, "Along Came A Spider" is more heavily focused on Freeman and his workings, with Potter being a supporting character who is much less of a focal point.
Ultimately, this works because of the more expensive scope of the film. Freeman provides the glue to a storyline that is constantly whiplashing between kidnapper Gary Soneji (played with delicious excellence by Michael Wincott), his kidnapped prey Megan Rose (played wonderfully astutely by Mika Boorem), and some minor political battles between law enforcement.
At any moment, it feels like "Along Came A Spider" is angling at its next narrative shift, which does a wonderful job of keeping the audience on its toes until its third act, which goes all out on providing revelations, double-crosses, and tension.
Still coming in at, remarkably, under two hours, the film feels much longer. So much information is thrown at you, and by the time you reach the chase that results in Freeman shooting out a window on the DC metro, you'd think the film would be at its close, but it's only about an hour or so in at that point with another 40 minutes to go!
Its third act holds most of its cards in that it reworks its formula from "Kiss The Girls," which had been heavily repeated with similar films such as "The Bone Collector," for a less predictable finale that lands well.
Not every part of the film lands perfectly, a subplot involving the son of the Russian president (played by late actor Anton Yelchin) comes and goes but feels like a bit of bloat in a film that has such a scarce runtime.
All in all, however, "Along Came A Spider" feels like a worthy successor to the "Kiss The Girls" film trope. Popcorn flicks that offer more than bright lights and action sequences for audiences to chew on. This would be the final foray into the world of Alex Cross for Freeman, later, the character would be picked up by Tyler Perry and then again for the television version of the character by Aldis Hodge, but his impact on the character remains the most popular and for good reason.
"Along Came A Spider" is a product of its time and a good one at that. A film that has thrills and some chills, good performances, and a plot that will either keep you guessing or feeling vindicated for your predictions.
My Verdict: 7.8/10
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