MOVIE REVIEW - Alex Cross

James Patterson's complicated crime fighting character Alex Cross is back in another installment of his book series, this time it is... Alex Cross.

This is a total relaunch of the Cross character to a new generation of fans, as this is squarely targeted at a younger audience with the casting of Tyler Perry as Cross.  Plus, there is a far younger feel to this as opposed to the previous two flicks, Along Came A Spider, and Kiss The Girls.   Everything has been updated within the story itself, and in the movie making.  This will "young up" Cross and make it far more palatable to younger moviegoers that drive box office receipts.

Cross is chasing through the streets of Detroit a real monster of an assassin who is barbaric in his killing methods.  He has been hired by someone to start killing off the huge businessmen within
Detroit for reasons not quite clear at the movies inception.   And when the killer turns his sights on Cross himself and his family, Cross goes off the reservation and pursues a path of vigilante justice with his small team.  

It's also fun for local movie goers to see that much of this was filmed in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, as well as on location in Detroit.  This is a straight action flick with a ton of chases, and fight scenes.  But in a real savvy move, and understanding that Patterson's books and the Cross character is very popular with women, this keeps a PG-13 rating, and the violence is kept in check.  This would have been very easy to be very graphic and far more violent, but they put a cap on it.  It has a feel of the Law and Order SVU TV show.  Good move. This also has a real slick and up to date soundtrack and gives this a real nice forward momentum.  There is a bunch of good here.

But some of this is a bit too convenient.  Things just kind of "happen" in this movie that were more than likely explained far better in the books.   Some of the dialogue is average at best, and there are a few draggy moments here.  This kind of stumbles out of the gate, but does get better as it goes on.  And it does not get old, Cross knows when to fold up his tent and go home.

Perry is solid with the script that he was given as Cross, and a fair supporting cast with Ed Burns and others. Trouble is, they are not allowed to develop as well as Cross.  But in the end, this is not a deal breaker. 

Alex Cross.   It does have some troubles, but in the end is decent movie making.