As a critic, there are just certain movies you look more forward to than others. I can’t say I go into Alex Cross, with the same level of enthusiasm I go into Cloud Atlas with, but that can actually work for a low-expectations movie. If the bar is set low, they can easily jump over it, and “surprise” you by merely being mediocre. Sadly, this movie isn’t a case of that. To put it in critical terms: it really, really sucks.
What Works: Not much. This thing is generic at the beginning and a downright mess by the final scene. It feels like a strange Tyler Perry-melodrama (where wild tragedies can happen out of the blue) crossed with a tired CSI-procedural show. Some may like it if they love James Patterson novels (I don’t), or if they have a strong affinity for Tyler Perry (also, I don’t), but I can’t see many people with good taste really thinking this movie works. Although, I do give Matthew Fox (the sensitive actor from Party of Five and the amazing show Lost) points for playing so against type as a freakishly muscled, pain-freak assassin…
What Doesn’t Work: Even though that’s a casting gambit that never really pays off…Fox feels like a generic psychopath going through the motions more than a wholly original creation. And I think what really threw me about this movie is that it starts off boring, predictable, totally uninspired…and then it morphs into a typical revenge-type thriller as Perry’s Cross is as vindictive and self-righteous as the man he’s chasing, or one of the characters in his own movies, which are usually cracked morality plays where a “good person” can commit an act of petty vengeance and the audience is asked to applaud them.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Whew…how much time you got?