James Patterson’s great novel has become a great movie experience.
Morgan Freeman makes it possible. As Dr. Alex Cross, the crème de la crème of crime scene investigators, Freeman’s portrayal causes Cross to walk right out of the book’s pages and into our lives. It’s almost as if Patterson saw Morgan once in a movie and created Cross to fit the actor.
Regardless, Freeman and Cross are a perfect match and "Spider" is almost a perfect movie.
The movie opens with a sting operation that goes wrong and blows up in Cross’s face. It also messes with his heart. The scene is as hair-raising as the one in Stallone’s "Cliffhanger". Cross may not get over the foul up, even though it wasn’t his fault.
It’s "time out" for Alex until an old enemy, Gary Soneji, decides to unleash his madness on a teacher and an innocent child, the daughter of a U.S. Senator. "Evil" is not a strong enough word to describe Soneji, a sadistic killer, whose disguises keep him free and hard to track down. His personal death wish is bigger than Mt. Everest.
With the child in his clutches, Soneji can demand anything and probably get it. He does and he does. Ten million in diamonds in a thermos bottle will do.
The movie breaks down a little when it copy-cats one of Bruce Willis’ "Die Hard" flicks by staging a race-against-time game which dispatches Dr. Cross here, there and everywhere before the culprit gives the final instructions to complete the money drop from a moving commuter train. O.K., but we’ve seen it sooooo many times!
An interesting twist injects the Secret Service because one of their crack agents, Jessie Flannigan, failed miserably when Soneji snuffed the private school teacher and kidnapped Megan Rose, the Senator’s child. Flannigan wants to redeem herself by helping Alex Cross if she can, but he would be prefer to work alone.
Persistence pays. Cross brings her on board and the story intensifies.
The heat is on Cross. He knows that if something happens to Soneji before the little girl is found, the case will die and so will Megan Rose. Soneji gets a chance to hammer that home and Cross gets the message loudly and clearly.
One can almost hear Freeman’s character thinking. He handles the part so well.
What if Soneji is not working alone? What if the madman is just being used? Why didn’t the Secret Service move more quickly and efficiently during the kidnapping? Who has those diamonds? Is Megan Rose already dead?
Cross comes through in an amazing climax that will leave you gasping. Along comes suspense, surprise and sensational screen writing in "Along Came A Spider."
Sit down beside it. You’ll be glad you did.