Third act clichés
let down 'Spider'
movie's originality
By Jeff Cantwell
Staff
Writer
 "Along
Came A Spider" begins with a massive special effects—laden car
wreck. Fortunately, this terrible scene is the only one of its kind
in the film.
What the movie does provide is a wonderful series
of cat—and—mouse games between criminal profiler Alex Cross
(Morgan Freeman) and brilliant kidnapper Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott).
"Spider" is technically a prequel to "Kiss the
Girls." Both movies were adapted from best—selling novels by James
Patterson, but the only connection between the two is the character
Alex Cross.
The plot is simple enough - a senator's daughter
is kidnapped and the obsessive kidnapper, who wants to make sure that
someone appreciates him, tips off Cross, who Soneji believes is capable
of appreciating his "crime of the century."
Cross teams up with secret service agent Jezzie
Flannigan (Monica Potter) who feels the kidnapping was the result of
her failure to protect the senator's daughter.
Freeman carries this film like he has many others.
His calm, calculating demeanor is as clear as ever, but I cannot remember
a role where he was not strong.
Monica Potter is suprisingly effective as the burdened
secret service agent, but she struggles to hold her own against the
presence of Freeman.
The first two—thirds of this film are excellent.
They paint a perfect picture of two exemplary minds clashing over one
little girl.
The film even breaks some cop—movie cliches.
The FBI and the New York Police Department are investigating the same
case and, for the first time, they do not work against each other. Soneji
stays one step ahead of his pursuers despite their teamwork and is an
excellently—developed character, right until the end.
If these things are what make this movie good,
then it is the last third that prevents it from being great.
The problem is Soneji. He is a beautifully constructed
character, but he is completely wasted in the last third of the film.
Cross might have a few more movies up his sleeve, and Soneji would have
made the perfect archvillain. Always there, lurking in the darkness,
with one more trick up his sleeve. But the revelations at the end of
this film ruin the chances of that.
The finale seems like it could have been good,
but instead of relying on the structure of the first half of the film,
it uses a clichéd plot turn to cheat its way out of a good ending.
Admitting that, the ending still might have worked, but it is the abandoned
potential that, in the end, deems it unsatisfying.
"Along Came A Spider" was directed by Lee Tamahori
(The Edge) and he has a strong grasp on his film, except for the first
scene, but I for one, will just pretend that it was not part of the
movie.
Tamahori nailed the pacing of his film. He does
not rush through anything, and yet it is not slow enough for boredom
to kick in.
"Along Came A Spider" was almost on the top of
the waterspout, but, unfortunately, the rains came and washed it right
out.
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