Review of Alex Cross (2012) by Simone D — 26 Dec 2012

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Swanner: Stepping out of the pages of James Patterson's novels is Alex Cross. A psychologist/detective in Detroit played this time by Tyler Perry. I say "this time," because the character of Alex Cross has been played twice before by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. This time around it appears the producers are branding this as a franchise and we should be seeing this character again. Based on the novel "Cross", Alex Cross has the title character chasing down an assassin who has targeted a member of his family.

Judd: Brought to you by Cadillac, Break Through... Having not seen Kiss or Spider, I'm confused how Alex Cross went from an silken-voiced old man to a pudgy drag queen, but hey, whatever. Outside of Madea, Alex Cross also stars Edward Burns as Tommy Kane, Gannon to Cross' Friday. Jean Reno as Leon Mercier, a billionaire with plans to revitalize Detroit; and a very wiry Matthew Fox as Picasso, the serial killer. If you find my description flippant, let's just say I'm taking the movie as seriously as it took itself.

Swanner: I took this more seriously then you did. I noticed the multiple bursts of laughter during the film. Yes, I did notice quite a bit of product placement but not enough to mention during the film, as you loudly did, that "Cadillac must have paid a fortune". The story is quite typical about a good guy taking revenge on the bad guy. The script was written by Kerry Williamson who has no other writing credits and Marc Moss wrote Along Came a Spider but nothing else and it shows. We've seen it before, but I thought Perry and Fox did a good job making their characters a bit different form the rest. Fox really went through some physical changes to become this very disturbing bad guy.

Judd: The New Standard of the World, Cadillac... The film was borderline camp. Cross' uncanny ability to detect clues threw me off, but I said to myself, "Would I be as critical if this were Sherlock Holmes?" so I settled back into the movie where I presented with Matthew Fox's twitchy and overwrought performance. Then I was given Cicely Tyson, who's so old her birth certificate is a stone tablet. When I see her, I know at some point there is going to be a scene where she chastises the main character using family and God. But the worst offense were the monologues delivered straight into the camera by both Cross and Picasso. It was like something out of the 1960's Batman. But then with Director Rob Cohen, whose resume includes such gems as Stealth and xXx, what can you expect?

Swanner: Looking at Director Cohen's filmology reads like a Worst Pictures list. This film looks to be the cherry on his mediocre career, and that's not saying much. The direction seemed confused and the script had its silly moments but I was entertained for the most part. I can't really put much blame on the actors; I think they did the best with what they had. Miss Cicely Tyson will be 80 next year and, yes, if she's in a film she will mention god and family every time and no one does that role better. Like I said, I think we're looking at a new franchise and I hope the next one has a better director.

Judd: Cadillac, Creating a Higher Standard... The script had many, many silly moments and I think if I saw it again I'd probably laughing more than I did. Between the Cadillac placements, Fox and Perry, the Aryan-like Germans and the horribly filmed fights scenes, Alex Cross is a disaster. I found it entertaining, but for the wrong reasons. Though, I have to say I did like the fact that the love interests were killed off early. Our readers know that I hate pointless women characters; at least I didn't suffer through a pace-crushing sex scene. Cadillac.

Swanner: **.

Judd: * 1/2.