Along Came a Spider
 
reviewed by Doug
Schneider Along Came A Spider is the type of movie that prides itself on the
fact that the twists and turns in its plot will have the audience guessing as to exactly
what will come next. And these aren’t just any old twists and turns. In fact, no
matter how astute a viewer you are, you will never see the twists coming -- not in
a million years. And it’s not because they’re clever. It’s because if you
think for even a moment, you’ll realize that most of the twists make absolutely no
sense at all.
Morgan Freeman plays detective Alex Cross (the same
character he played in Kiss the Girls). Cross is a celebrated forensic psychologist
who works on cases involving serial killers, kidnappers, and what have you. If a bad guy
needs "profiling," he’s the man. In this film, he’s brought in to help
track down a man who has kidnapped the young daughter of a U.S. senator.
This movie doesn’t make you guess just who the kidnapper is -- they give you that
right off the bat. What’s supposed to make this movie tick is that it’s a puzzle
in which there is more than first meets the eye. And while this should have made it
intriguing, this is where Along Came A Spider really runs into trouble. The plot
takes several very unexpected turns, but does so at the expense of logic. A recent
interview of Morgan Freeman by Roger Ebert reveals that there was more than just a little
finagling of the script by various parties -- not always a good thing when you’re
looking for coherency in a storyline. There was also likely some editing done which
resulted in the obliteration of some key scenes that may (or may not) have tied things
together a little better.
In the end, what we’re left with is a mildly entertaining thriller that will have
you walking from the theater thinking you’ve missed something along the way. For that
it gets a ** rating. |
