Girls', is back. This time, he's paired with a kittenish secret service
agent, Jezzie Flannagan (Monica Potter), whose charge is kidnapped during
her watch. Jezzie's job was to protect influencial students at an elite
private school, but her dilegence couldn't prevent Gary Soneji (Micheal
Wincott), the "perfect teacher", from spiriting away the daughter of an
United States sentator. Now it's up to Cross to deterime why Megan was
kidnapped and what Soneji wants before the kidnapping turns into a
homicide.
Along Came a Spider doesn't begin badly. In fact, the prologue, which
details how Cross loses a partner is actually involving. Unfortunately,
it's downhill from there. By the time the underwritten plot tries to
leap toward a "surprise" revelation, the plot has ceased to make any
sense. Characters make huge leaps of intution for no apparent reason
other than it was required to transistion to the next part of the
storyline. The last 20 minutes felt anti-climatic and as predictable as
any second-rate detective tale. If the twists take you by surprise, it
means one of three things: you weren't paying attention (highly
possible), you were sleeping (also possible), or you're hopelessly
gulible.
Spider's saving grace is Freeman, who strides through the film with his
dignity intact. Freeman is watchable - and that's one reason he's among
the best, underated actors working today. He made a credible effort to
save the dismal screenplay and would have succeed with any support from
the remaining cast. Monica Potter never gets beyond the 'cute' label.
She looks like she's playing a kindergarten teacher and not a secret
service agent. Antagonist Micheal Wincott, playing the obvious bad guy,
gives a mail-it-in villian performance full of cheap smirks and sneering.
There is nothing remarkable, dangerous or seemingly threatening about Soneji.
Compared to someone like Hannibal Lecter, he has a limited imagination,
lackluster character depth and no malignent presence (not to mention
deficient culinary skills).
Much as I admire Freeman's performance, I can't bring myself to recommend
going to the theater to see this movie. Save some bucks and rent it in
about 2 weeks when it hits video.
Score: 2 (out of 4)