A film review by Rachael Vice Copyright © 2001 Rachael Vice

Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Detective Alex Cross (first seen in KISS THE GIRLS) who once again must track down another brilliant killer (for those interested - if you were to place the films in order as were the novels by James Patterson, ALONG CAME A SPIDER would be considred a prequel - it was the first of Patterson's novels ever to star Cross). Of course, this time Ashley Judd doesn't tag along, but Cross does have the help of secret service agent, Jezzie Flannigan, played by Monica Potter who is best known for her goody goody role in CON-AIR.

After a senator's daughter is kidnapped by 'the perfect teacher' Gary Soneji, the cat and mouse games begin. Seemingly f-o-r-e-v-e-r Cross and Flannigan do the same thing: searching for clues to help them retrieve the little girl. This is actually the one weak link of the movie. Instead of character development or new relationships, we see the same Sherlock Holmes sleuthing through 3/4's of the movie. One has to marvel at the genius of Alex Cross, though. It's too bad not all detectives can be as wondrous as he is with his work.

Fans of the novel will probably be disappointed. Although the basic elements are the same, the movie barely stays with the novel. For example, in the novel another student was kidnapped along with the senator's daughter. Flannigan and Cross also became pretty intimate which led to a good ending for the book and which (in my opinion) could have made the movie stronger.

However, the movie does have that unseen twist that fans of the novel will be glad to see on screen. Don't worry, if you've read the novel and you know what happens, I'm not ruining anything because you can plainly figure it out with foreknowledge. For those of you who haven't read the novel, I'm not talking about some teen-slasher, Scooby-Doo twist, I'm talking about one that will have you saying 'wow' when you merely think of the movie again.

Truthfully, Morgan Freeman deserved a better co-star than Monica Potter. Her portrayal of Flannigan isn't even close to being as stern as a secret service agent should be. Actually, anyone with a job that requires you to carry around a gun should be more stern. Potter seems more like she's Alex Cross' housewife that wants to come along rather than a secret service agent.

Like the web of any spider, ALONG CAME A SPIDER is an interesting complication of several twists and turns, yet every thread has the same appearance that we've seen in movies dozens of times before.

Final Rating:   * * 1/2   OF   * * * *

	Running Time: ? Min | Rated: R | US Release: April 6th | More >>

Related Links:

• Official Site
• Coming Attractions
• Upcomingmovies.com: Along Came a Spider

The game is far from over.