Release Date: October 19, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Robert Cohen
Stars: Tyler Perry, Edward Burns, Matthew Fox
Our Rating: C+
This past Friday, October 19, 2012, director Rob Cohen tried his hand at rebooting Alex Cross, a book series by James Patterson (Maximum Ride, Witch & Wizard, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X) which was adapted into a pair of films [Kiss the Girls (1997), Along Came a Spider (2001)] starring Morgan Freeman and directed by Garry Fleder [Kiss the Girls (1997)] and Lee Tamahori [Along Came a Spider (2001)]. This time, with James Patterson in a Producer’s chair, Rob Cohen tried for a much more faithful presentation of the detective/psychologist
In this film adaptation, Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) is a detective and psychologist for the Detroit Police Department with his partners Tommy Kane (Edward burns) and Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols). His wife is Maria Cross (Carmen Ejogo) and his kids are Janelle (Yara Shahidi) and Damon Cross (Sayeed Shahidi). In the story, Detective Dr. Cross chases an ex-military, sociopathic, and sadistic killer, identified in the credits only as “Picasso” (Matthew Fox). Along the way, he also has to protect wealthy multi-national businessman Leon Mercier (Jean Reno), who may or may not have shady intentions.
I personally like the casting of Tyler Perry as the titular character of Detective Dr. Cross. This film marks the first time I have seen Tyler Perry play a role that is non-comedic, or in other words, does not involve him putting on a dress and sounding like an elderly woman. Perry plays the part of the serious, intelligent doctor/detective with such a genuine-ness, it’s very hard to simply ignore.
Unfortunately, for the amount of pros, there were also cons. I did not like how there seemed to be such little character development in characters other than that of Alex Cross. Nearly every other character was two-dimensional, with no explanations to the motives for their actions besides common sense, human nature, and insanity.
All in all, I would give this movie a score of C+. As well as the little to no character development, the plot was not very dynamic and was, in terms of story, very predictable. Also, the action sequences, though greatly exaggerated in the trailers, were actually pretty flat. Until next time!
