Alex Cross. Rated M (violence and sexual references). 101 minutes. Directed by Rob Cohen. Screenplay by Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson.
Verdict: Mildly engaging but mostly brutal reboot that
fails to equal the sum of its parts.
James Patterson’s best-selling
novels about the fastidious detective and psychologist Dr Alex Cross have been
adapted for the screen on two previous occasions – Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001) – with the indomitable Morgan Freeman in
the title role.
For this brutal and patchy
reboot, Tyler Perry (Good Deeds)
takes over to match wits, insults and body blows with Matthew Fox’s (Lost) Picasso, a psychopath who is waging a gruesome
vendetta against Leon Mercier (Jean Reno), a rich businessman who plans to
redevelop a derelict Detroit.
Apart from the obvious
fact that we are in very familiar territory, Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) keeps the action humming along and Tyler is a
modestly engaging hero who uses his rare and spooky gift of enhanced intuition
to close in on the serial killer. But when Picasso shoots Cross’s pregnant wife
Maria (an excellent Carmen Ejogo), the super smooth and mild-mannered detective
has no choice but to take it very personally.
If Rachel Nichols (Criminal
Minds) and Edward Burns (Entourage, Man on a Ledge) never appear entirely comfortable in their roles
as Cross’s partners in the investigation, it’s an increasingly rare thrill to
have the opportunity to watch the wonderful Cicely Tyson act almost everyone
else off the screen in her small but significant scenes as Nana Mama.
Fox, who is unrecognisable
from his Lost days, creates a
morbidly fascinating character who only suffers from a complete lack of
motivation in Moss and Williamson’s, otherwise, fairly pedestrian screenplay.
And while the film certainly has a good deal to recommend it, it rarely rises
to the high-octane level of thrills, style and danger we’re used to when
masters of this genre (such as David Fincher) deliver us the goods.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
No comments:
Post a Comment