Hey folks, Harry here with Capone's take on this (what I consider to be a waste of misplaced talent upon a crappy script) film. Read on and weep...
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with the one-day jump on ALONG CAME A SPIDER. I haven't seen a review of the finished product on this site yet; here it is...
Look, I’m just going to say it because everybody else is afraid to: Morgan Freeman’s act is getting tired. The guy is a true talent, I know, but he’s basically resorted to playing the same type of character in every movie since GLORY: the wise, all-knowing, advise-dispensing monk. And nobody does it better, but he’s done it too much. Looks at his work in UNFORGIVEN, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, OUTBREAK, DEEP IMPACT, SEVEN, AMISTAD, and KISS THE GIRLS. When we see his name in the opening credits, we know he will be the voice of reason in the story to follow.
One of the smartest moves Freeman made recently was by taking on the role of Charlie is last year’s NURSE BETTY. Again, he played the mentor and teacher to a younger man (in this case, Chris Rock). But he twisted the role. He was a hitman nearing the end of his career and his sanity, and he decides to fixate on capturing and protecting the woman he’s supposed to kill. It was a quietly disturbing performance and a reminder of how strong Freeman can be when he takes chances.
A prime example of Freeman not taking chances can be found in ALONG CAME A SPIDER, where Freeman revisits his role as Det. Alex Cross from KISS THE GIRLS. (This story is actually supposed to take place before KISS THE GIRLS, but you’d never know it from anything done or said in the film. And gadgets that we’re even invented when KISS THE GIRLS was released are employed by both investigators and criminals in this film.) Thankfully, Freeman is not tracking down serial killers in this film (as he did in SEVEN and KISS THE GIRLS). This time around, he’s going after the kidnapper of a senator’s daughter. For reasons I’m still not clear on, the kidnapper (the too obviously creepy Michael Wincott) decides to force Cross’s role in the case, despite the fact that the Secret Service and the FBI seem to have things under control. Cross is still in a funk over the death of his previous partner during a sting operation (which opens the film spectacularly).
Julia Roberts clone Monica Potter is Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan, the head of the security details assigned to the kidnap victim’s school and the woman essentially responsible for letting the kidnapper escape. Since her job is on the line, she offers to partner with Cross to find the little girl, Megan. The details of the investigation and pursuit aren’t important. There are a couple neat little twist and turns in the plot, but it boils down to the same old cat and mouse game we’ve seen a hundred times before. And there at the center of it all is Freeman, finding clues in a room that a dozen other investigators missed, figuring out computer passwords without batting an eye, profiling his criminals with laser-like accuracy. I know these flaws are more the fault of the screenwriter than Freeman, but it’s because the filmmakers know they have Freeman that no effort is put into developing Cross’s character. I can hear them saying, “It’s Morgan Freeman, of course he can read minds...and he can fly.”
I don’t mean to pick on one of the greatest actors of our time. I’ve been a fan of his since his Easy Reader days on “Electric Company.” But he needs a new game. As for ALONG CAME A SPIDER, I’ve never seen a film try so hard to be utterly average and completely predictable. There are two or three genuinely thrilling moments surrounded by standard-issue investigative work about on the level of an episode of “NYPD Blue.”
Capone
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