(rated R, 104 mins) A gripping opening about Detective Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), no sooner emotionally recovering from the loss of his partner when he’s sucked into a kidnapping of a young girl, Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), daughter of Senator Dunne. Coupled with Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), Cross tries to unravel Gary Soneji’s (Michael Wincott) motives in abducting the child from her private school classroom. And, the child thief seems to mirror the Charles Lindbergh kidnapping. While the opening sting operation sparks interest, the story trickles down to practically nothing despite a twisted ending in a desperate attempt to salvage the movie’s middle. Its only energized moment comes from a wild marathon goose chase answering phones at specified D.C. locations. While Freeman holds his own revisiting the role adapted from James Patterson’s highly acclaimed novel in the Alex Cross series, the other characters come off like cardboard on valium. And, their behavior doesn’t make sense. Especially when the killer stops to have a one on one therapy session with Cross saying, “you don’t understand me anymore” in reference to his history as a bad guy and burning his parents house down. Detective Cross says it all with his comment, “I think we’re missing something here?” Perhaps a plot?
