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