Along Came A Spider
by Sharyn Yuloff
This is the second of James Patterson's bestselling novels to be brought to the screen.
James
Patterson's popular series of mystery novels featuring the Alex Cross character
has intrigued me for many years. I've loved each of the cases' complexity
and each perpetrator's inventiveness and ingenuity. So, when I saw the trailer
for Along Came a Spider, my interest was instantly piqued and I counted
the days for one of my favorite literary indulgences to come to the silver
screen.
The big question in any adaptation (besides, "Why didn't the original author write the screenplay?") is "How true to the book, characters and style will they stay?"
Adaptation
for the screen by Marc Moss is not too bad for a first screenplay. And
it stays true to Dr. Cross' warmth, intelligence and insightfulness. Star
of the film, and Executive Producer, Morgan Freeman plays Cross perfectly,
as he did in Kiss The Girls. However, key members of his family,
meaningful in each novel as well as to Cross' character, are omitted from
the film.
To the film's credit, the principals successfully retained Patterson's hallmark twists and turns, all of which are too good to divulge here. The official plot line reads, "A congressman's daughter, under Secret Service protection, is kidnapped from a private school by an insider who calls Detective Alex Cross, sucking him into the case even though he's recovering from the loss of his partner." What this doesn't tell you is that Dr. Cross is smooth-talked into working with Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan (played beautifully by the stunning Monica Potter) who seems distraught over losing her charge.
Thirteen-year
old Mika Boorem (The Patriot) plays the congressman's daughter.
The "insider" is disclosed unusually early as Professor Gary
Soneji, and he's played to sinister perfection by Michael Wincott (Before
Night Falls, Alien: Resurrection) Jay O. Sanders reprises his role
as Detective Kyle Craig from the previously filmed Patterson bestseller,
Kiss The Girls.
What you probably want to know most, and this counts whether you are a James Patterson or simply a Who-Done-It fan, "Is this is a film worth seeing?" Well, only if you can get lost in a story and ignore the holes left by the scriptwriter, the editor (in this case, the team of Neil Travis and Nicolas De Toth of 1999's Bicentennial Man) and/or the director (Lee Tamahori; best known for HBO's The Sopranos in 1999).
Other than those minor inconveniences, I'd have to say I enjoyed Along Came a Spider.
Sharyn Yuloff recently escaped from 12 years of hard labor in the entertainment industry.