Review of Along Came a Spider (2001) by Cal ( — 27 Apr 2008

"To be brutally honest, I think you have a morbid desire to burn in hell.".

Along Came a Spider is an appalling thriller that is predictable, ludicrous and contains some absurd visual effects.

The film is nothing more than your usual clichéd kidnapping yarn - the daughter of a senator is kidnapped and people are brought on board to find out who kidnapped her as well as having the task of getting her back. Then, as usual, we find out the usual mole, the kidnapper makes a mistake and eventually everything is back to normal.

Every minute of the film is as predictable as the minute preceding it; every minute is full of the usual conventional plot twists that we could already see coming.

Morgan Freeman is one of the only actors who managed to pull off some half decent acting. His performance was full of dignity and effort. At least he endeavoured to add something decent to the production. Unfortunately the same kind of effort cannot be used to describe the screenwriter.

Because of how embarrassingly terrible the writing was, it let everyone down. It's a woeful adaptation that allows the audience to predict every single plot twist that is about to occur. Along Came a Spider is one of Lee Tamahori's first Hollywood films, and it's a shame he didn't keep his standards after Once Were Warriors. I'll admit that Tamahori is a talented director who did everything he could despite a tedious screenplay. Some scenes are very well directed, but the film is still very predictable.

Yet another dreadful aspect is the visual effects. They look highly cartoonish and not realistic in the slightest. Along Came a Spider is a very weak film that is heavily marred by its clichéd script and predictable events. There are several other kidnapping thrillers you can watch before moving onto this one.