Film Review: Tyler Perry Bores Criminals to Death in ‘Alex Cross’

CHICAGO – A cinematic lifetime ago, Morgan Freeman injected a bit of class and style into the role of Alex Cross in the adaptations of James Patterson’s “Along Came a Spider” and “Kiss the Girls.” Seventeen years later, director Tyler Perry steps into the shoes of the detective doctor with all the answers in the narcoleptic, horrendous “Alex Cross,” a misfire that makes the Freeman movies look like “The Silence of the Lambs” by comparison.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

With a nightmarish production that saw a talented director (David Twohy, “A Perfect Getaway”) and talented actor (Idris Elba, “The Wire”) replaced by the truly inept Rob Cohen (“Stealth”) and the miscast Mr. Perry, “Alex Cross” is the kind of disaster that should have been shelved entirely once the wheels came off. Instead, the producers played games with the character and boring script, substituting Cleveland for Detroit in shooting instead of just throwing the entire production in Lake Erie. “Alex Cross” is mostly just an inept, shockingly boring affair until about the hour mark when it becomes such a poorly made movie that one starts to get angry that anyone involved earned a paycheck or that anyone will be forced to sit through it. You may be expecting just a standard mystery/thriller. You’ll get a mess that’s so poorly constructed that if it were a pilot for a cop show, no network would pick it up.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Alex Cross” in our reviews section.

Perry plays the title character with nary an ounce of depth or style, turning Alex Cross into another movie super-cop, the guy who knows all the answers and can kick some ass at the same time. He’s partnered with Tommy Kane (Edward Burns) and Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols) when the trio comes upon a disturbing case. A madman named Picasso (Matthew Fox) has cut off a rape-date-drug-sedated woman’s fingers before killing her and all of her bodyguards. (And, yes, observant readers may be saying, “IN A PG-13?!?!” “Alex Cross” is further proof of the absolute ineptitude of the MPAA. There’s no justification in a sane world for a movie that features as much death and torture as this one to be PG-13 while “The King’s Speech” is R for language. It’s total nonsense. Sorry for the rant, back to the review…)

Cross and his partners track Picasso to his next target after he leaves them a clue in a drawing clearly inspired by Mad Magazine and get in the way of this wide-eyed lunatic and his prey. Bad idea. Picasso turns his focus on the detectives and their loved ones, taking the time to track down and try and kill them even though he’s being paid $3 million for a different hit. He’s not really very professional.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Alex Cross” review.

Alex Cross
Photo credit: Summit Entertainment