Monday, February 18, 2013

Alex Cross Review (By Sean Dibble)


Dr. Alex Cross is a detective who has been put on a case from the chief of police to track down a mass killer that leaves drawings at all of his victims. Cross (Tyler Perry) is after the man he calls Picasso (Matthew Fox), an ex-military man for hire. After failing to apprehend Picasso the first time around and having two bombs go off during the chase inside the building, Picasso escapes and is now not only after his original targets, but now is after Cross and his fellow detectives. Can Cross and his team protect Detroit and the people they love?

The Cast of this film is absolutely amazing and I give the casting director props for getting the people they did.  Getting Tyler Perry to play the main character is brilliant.  Mostly seeing Perry as a TV show director/producer and as Madea in the Madea films, you see him as mostly comedy but he pulls off the serious role greatly and makes you pray that Alex is ok. His team Tommy Kane and Monica Ashe played by Edward Burns and Rachel Nicolas respectively, do a great job at the supporting roles making the team complete as they head out in hunt for the killer. Matthew Fox who plays the antagonist, Piccaso, is devious and not right in the head.  I personally did not know Fox could pull off this role when I first found out he was playing the villain; but after seeing the film, I retake that thought and give him a slow clap for his performance. *clap clap*

“Alex Cross” is based of the book by James Patterson. The movie is far from the book though it has many inaccuracies and characters that are in the book are in the film and people who are in the film are not in the book. Now most people would think this as a bad thing and though it is not great it does not take away from the film. Now I am not recommending go out buy the book and read it after or before seeing the film because the Cross serious should be read in order for them to make the most sense. My biggest pet peeve though is that Maria (Cross’s wife) is in the film when she never appears in a single book only in Alex’s mind as thoughts. Another thing is that the film takes place in Detroit where in the books he lives in DC.

All in all, “Alex Cross” is a good film on the urge of being great but the differences from the book keep it from being so, because of this it impacted the score tremendously. People who have read the book should stay away from the film or be prepared to scream at the TV screen because characters you love (Sampson) are not in the movie, and characters that shouldn’t be (Maria) are. The cast however, is great and manages to keep the story alive with their acting. The plot makes sense with few drawbacks pertaining to the book. But with that said “Alex Cross” will at times keep you on the edge of your seat and at some points in the film make you sick at points or question your morality if you find the gruesome parts hilarious (as I know some of you sickos will J).



Good:
-Great Cast
-Plot is decent
-Based of one of the greatest novel characters ever created

Bad:
-Doesn’t follow the book
-Missing Characters/Adding Characters

Scully Rating: 7 out of 10