“Along Came a Spider” is a movie which will keep your interest in spite of its faults. It has a predictable plot but its twists and turns make it a good movie to watch. Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), the 12-year-old daughter of Sen. Hank Rose (Michael Morierty), is kidnapped by her schoolteacher Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott) right under the nose of Secret Service agents who are assigned to protect the Washington politician’s daughter.
Detective Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) who also is the author of many books on crime, profiling serial killers and such comes out of retirement to handle the case when he is contacted by the kidnapper on the phone. The kidnapper who is a regular reader of Cross’ books and considers him a worthy adversary taunts him in order to lure him into handling the case.
Detective Cross teams up with Jezzi Flannigan (Monica Potter). She is upset by Megan’s kidnapping as she was one of the girl’s body guards. Jezzi hopes to gain her confidence as she is in the doghouse with everyone for letting Megan be kidnapped.
“Along Came a Spider” is the story of the thinking detective, Alex Cross, trying to out maneuver Gary Soneji, the crazy but cunning and methodical-like-a-spider criminal. I won’t give you any more details or it will spoil your fun of movie viewing.
Morgan Freeman is the backbone of the film. The actor returns to the character, Alex Cross, which he played many years ago in the movie “Kiss the Girls.” But in an interview, he said that he did not believe in repeating roles so perhaps he agreed to accept this one because the role is mellower. In “Kiss the Girls,” Morgan is a leather-wearing, sports-car driving, pierced-ear detective. In “Along Came a Spider,” Morgan is dignified looking, soft-spoken and in more conservative clothes.
The flaw with the movie, which would otherwise have been brilliant, is that the plot is rather weak. It also borrows from other movies such as “Dirty Harry” and “Die Hard.” The use of the computer by the villain appeared a bit too far-fetched. But still the movie redeems itself somewhere in the middle. All actors have done a good job. Jerry Goldsmith’s music was not his best but I think you will hardly notice that since your mind will be on better things. Monica Potter seemed a bit too stiff.
I would recommend viewers see this movie at least once. Running time is 104 minutes. The movie is rated R for violence and language.
