Alex Cross product reviews

I am a fan of James Patterson, and certainty some of his books make for great movies - Kiss the Girls being the main one. And I liked the grittiness of the detective Alex Cross. I went to the movies to see this movie in anticipation as I've read the 3rd Cross novel (entitled 'Cross') which this movie was based on: serial killer, action, moral boundaries = typical Patterson.

In terms of the movie itself, it was entertaining but it did not have too much action, which was incredibly surprising for this "action film". The few action scenes that did make it through production were good though (except for the last one where the shaky cinematography was awful!). The biggest highlight was Matthew Fox - he was surprisingly great!

In terms of the book to film adaptation, it stayed pretty true to the book if you're a James Patterson fan, BUT the Lee Child film adaptations just get my vote for the best crime to move adaptations.

After a very early start and a moderately long day at the Big Boys Toys show in Auckland, I was very much looking forward to stopping in at Hoyts Sylvia Park to see "Alex Cross" - the previews, as expected, looked quite good. It's just a real shame the movie itself didn't live up to the hype. Still, it wasn't the worst I have seen. THAT would have been "Speed Racer", which incidentally starred Matthew Fox as well, but only in the form of a couple of brief face-shots and a lot of voice-overs.

The premise of the movie seems simple enough... cop is chasing bad guy, bad guy kills cop's wife in a public and messy way, cop swears revenge, lots of blood ensues. Pretty straight-forward and hard to stuff up, yet Director Rob Cohen manages to pull of a miracle and make a right hash of it. With extra sub-plots, supposed red herrings that turn out not to be, and some pretty implausible fight scenes... this movie relies more on the implied horror of torture victims and facing down a psycho without any qualms about making you suffer for his entertainment.

It would make a far better book... oh, wait, hang on a minute...

The acting was limp at best, stale at worst. Jean Reno - first seen by me as Leon the Professional with a fledgeling starlet named Natalie Portman - was a tremendous disappointment. How far the mighty have fallen! Still... he has grown on a bit since those fine days. So, what redeeming features DID the movie have? To be blunt, the thing that made the movie bearable was the niggling feeling that rewatching it may reveal some hidden layers to it, for surely such a lame-duck movie would not have made it to the global village of hallowed silver screens otherwise?! I will have to wait for it to come out on DVD - not too far off, I feel - to rewatch it and see.

Overall, the best part of the movie after this screening? The amazingly comfortable "La Premiere" seats up the back of the cinema at Hoyts Sylvia Park! Because we (my co-attendee at Big Boys Toys Show earlier in the day) were the only people in the entire cinema, we were invited to use them by a wonderfully helpful lady at the ticket counter.