Along Came a Spider
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Along Came a Spider
Plot
Morgan Freeman returns as forensic psychologist Dr. Alex Cross in this thriller based on the novel by James Patterson (whose work also formed the basis of the hit Kiss the Girls). Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott) is a brilliant but remorseless psychopath who has landed a teaching position at an exclusive private school in Washington, D.C. Using his extensive knowledge of kidnapping (he's taught a class on Charles Lindbergh), Soneji abducts one of his students - Megan (Mika Boorem), whose father Hank Rose (Michael Moriarty) is a United States senator. Ollie MacArthur (Dylan Baker), the detective investigating the case, has strong words for Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), the Secret Service agent who mistakenly let Megan slip through her fingers. But when the kidnapper contacts Dr. Cross, the psychologist is brought in on the case, and Cross seeks out Flannigan, who he believes might have a valuable insight into the case. Soon, Cross and Flannigan come to the terrible realization that this crime only represents the tip of the iceberg for the ruthless Soneji. Along Came a Spider also features Penelope Ann Miller, Jay O. Sanders, and Kim Hawthorne. ~ Mark Deming, RoviReview
The novel by best-selling author James Patterson becomes this thriller that, in the chronology of the writer's series of books featuring the character of Alex Cross, is actually a prequel to Kiss the Girls (1997). Morgan Freeman brings his usual intelligent gravity to FBI Special Agent-In-Charge role he's assayed once before, while Michael Wincott, always so memorable in villain roles, plays his genius kidnapper with a nervous, detached reserve that's a thoughtful contrast to the expected over-the-top histrionics of most cinematic antagonists. His motivations are never made clear or believable, but Wincott's Gary Soneji is sufficiently frightening in his off-kilter, wounded way. Jezzie Flannigan, as portrayed by Monica Potter, is more problematic. The actress plays the tough, smart, morally conflicted Secret Service agent as a wide-eyed runway model at best, an emotionless automaton at worst. It could be to throw the audience off in preparation for a third-act twist, but Potter lacks authenticity in a part that should have been played by a seasoned performer (such as Susan Sarandon) to provide a mature, full-bodied foil for the daunting presence of Freeman. As for the story itself, major changes from the source novel may leave Patterson fans enraged, but director Lee Tamahori provides his underrated, skillful service, keeping the pace brisk and the unanswered questions properly glossed-over. Not as artistically nutritious as The Silence of the Lambs or as good as its predecessor, Along Came a Spider is just good enough, never quite reaching the heights that everyone involved is capable of, existing instead as a proper, adequately entertaining example of its genre. ~ Karl Williams, RoviCast
- Morgan Freeman - Alex Cross
- Monica Potter - Jezzie Flannigan
- Michael Wincott - Gary Soneji
- Dylan Baker - Ollie McArthur
- Mika Boorem - Megan Rose
Credit
Sandy Cochrane - Art Director, Denise Chamian - Casting, Marty Hornstein - Co-producer, Sanja Milkovic Hays - Costume Designer, Jim Brebner - First Assistant Director, Lee Tamahori - Director, Neil Travis - Editor, Morgan Freeman - Executive Producer, Marty Hornstein - Executive Producer, Jerry Goldsmith - Composer (Music Score), Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), Rosalina Da Silva - Makeup, Ida Random - Production Designer, Matthew Leonetti - Cinematographer, David Brown - Producer, Joe Wizan - Producer, Elizabeth Wilcox - Set Designer, Eric Batut - Sound/Sound Designer, Chuck Jeffreys - Stunts, Lewis Colick - Screenwriter, Marc Moss - Screenwriter, Bill Westenhofer - Visual Effects Supervisor, Stephen Flick - Supervising Sound Editor, Elizabeth Wilcox - Set Decorator, James Patterson - Book Author| Along Came a Spider (1970 Film), Along Came Youth (1931 Film) | |
| Along Comes the Tiger (1977 Film), Along for the Ride (2000 Film) |
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Along Came a Spider (film)
| Along Came a Spider | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Lee Tamahori |
| Produced by | David Brown Joe Wizan Morgan Freeman Marty Hornstein |
| Written by | Marc Moss Based on the novel by James Patterson |
| Starring | Morgan Freeman Monica Potter Michael Wincott |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Editing by | Neil Travis Nicolas de Toth (addl) |
| Studio | Rhythm and Hues Studios Revelations Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 6, 2001 (US) |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 |
| Box office | $105,178,561 (worldwide) |
Along Came a Spider is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Lee Tamahori. The screenplay by Marc Moss was adapted from the 1993 novel of the same title by James Patterson, but many of the key plot elements of the book were eliminated. Along Came a Spider was the first book in Patterson's Alex Cross series, although the second one to be filmed, following Kiss the Girls in 1997.
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Contents
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Plot summary
After Washington, D.C. detective, forensic psychologist, and author Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) loses control of a sting operation, resulting in the death of his partner, he opts to retire from the force. He finds himself drawn back to police work when Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), the daughter of a United States senator, is kidnapped from her exclusive private school by computer science teacher Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott). U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), held responsible for the breach in security, joins forces with Cross to find the missing girl.
Soneji contacts Cross by phone and alerts him to the fact one of Megan's sneakers is in the detective's mailbox, proving he's the kidnapper. Cross deduces the man is obsessed with the 1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping and hopes to become as infamous as Bruno Hauptmann by committing a new "Crime of the Century" that might be discussed by Cross in one of his true crime books. Megan's kidnapping proves to be only part of Soneji's real plan: to kidnap the son of the Russian president, Dimitri Starodubov (Anton Yelchin), guaranteeing himself greater infamy.
After Cross and Flannigan foil his second kidnapping plot, a supposed call from the kidnapper demands that Cross deliver a ransom of $10 million dollars in diamonds by following an intricate maze of calls made to public phone booths scattered throughout the city. Cross ultimately tosses the gems out the window of a rapidly moving Metro train to a figure standing by the tracks. When Soneji later arrives at Flannigan's home and confronts Cross after disabling Jezzie with a taser, the detective realizes the kidnapper is unaware of the ransom demand and delivery. Soneji tries to leave with Flannigan but Cross kills him.
Cross becomes suspicious and realizes that someone discovered Soneji long before his plot came to fruition. After searching Flannigan's home computer, he finds enough evidence to prove that Jezzie and her fellow Secret Service agent, Ben Devine (Billy Burke), used Soneji as a pawn in their own plot. He tracks them down to a secluded farmhouse where Flannigan has murdered Devine and is now intent on eliminating Megan Rose. Cross saves Megan and shoots Flannigan in the heart, killing her.
Production
One of the primary elements of the book screenwriter Marc Moss eliminated from his script was the fact that Soneji is actually a mild-mannered suburban husband and father suffering from dissociative identity disorder resulting from having been abused as a child. After a lengthy trial for kidnapping and several murders not included in the film, he is found guilty but remanded to a mental institution to serve his sentence. Also missing from the film is a romantic relationship shared by Cross and Jezzie, her trial and eventual execution by lethal injection, and the discovery of Maggie, hidden away with a native Bolivian family near the Andes Mountains, two years after her kidnapping.
Box office
Total box office receipts totaled US$105,178,561, of which $74,078,174 was from the United States having earned $16,712,407 in its opening weekend at 2,530 theaters.[1]
Cast
- Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross
- Monica Potter as Jezzie Flannigan
- Michael Wincott as Gary Soneji/The Spider
- Dylan Baker as Ollie McArthur
- Mika Boorem as Megan Rose
- Billy Burke as Ben Devine
- Anton Yelchin as Dimitri Starodubov
- Jay O. Sanders as Kyle Craig
- Michael Moriarty as Senator Hank Rose
- Penelope Ann Miller as Elizabeth Rose
- Anna Maria Horsford as Vickie
Critical reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews and has a "rotten" rating of 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.[2]
Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called the film an "overplotted, hollow thriller, which crams in so much exposition that characters speak in fetid hunks for what seems like minutes at a time ... But Spider couldn't be better served than it is by Mr. Freeman, whose prickly smarts and silken impatience bring believability to a classless, underdeveloped thriller ... Still, he is wasted in this impersonal, almost inept thriller."[3]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated, "A few loopholes I can forgive. But when a plot is riddled with them, crippled by them, made implausible by them, as in Along Came a Spider, I get distracted. I'm wondering, since Dr. Alex Cross is so brilliant, how come he doesn't notice yawning logical holes in the very fabric of the story he's occupying? ... The film contains two kinds of loopholes: (1) Those that emerge when you think back on the plot, and (2) Those that seem like loopholes at the time, and then are explained by later developments that may contain loopholes of their own ... There are places in this movie you just can't get to from other places in this movie."[4]
Robert Koehler of Variety felt "the very characteristics that have made Cross so appealing, particularly his mind-tickling abilities to assess and outmaneuver his criminal opponents, are reduced here to the most fundamental and predictable level ... As reliable as any actor in Hollywood, Freeman delivers the requisite gravitas, but the bland script curtails any personal touches he might have inserted were his sleuth character unraveling a truly vexing mystery."[5]
However, critic Harvey O'Brian weighed in with the sentiment that "Unlike, for example, the overblown kidnap movie Ransom, Along Came a Spider plays down its sensational elements. It favours the procedural aspects of Cross' investigation which, though infected with the usual 'Eureka' factor of brilliant discoveries by the leading man at regular intervals just when it looked like he was stumped, are largely delivered with sincerity. Freeman has such a strong grip on this kind of determined, middle aged, everyman character by now that he can easily take the audience along for the ride. The film itself is otherwise sincere in general, with no real attempt at smarmy black humour or winks to the audience. It draws you in to a (relatively) realistic depiction of a tense situation in which people behave less like action heroes and more like human beings." [6]
Compuserve's Harvey Karten argued, "Some critics will tell you that despite Lee Tamahori's overplotting of Marc Moss's adaptation of James Patterson's novel, Along Came a Spider is one of those thrillers that allow you to check your brains at the door. Not true. Did the journalists all go for popcorn when Detective Alex Cross and Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan (nice spelling) engaged first in a discussion of psychology and then of philosophy? This may have been Phil 101, but imagine the interest that must have been aroused in the audience with a product placement for university education. Says Cross in discussing what makes us choose our careers: 'You do what you are.' 'Not so,' replies Jezzie, every hair in place, not one gram of makeup disturbed, despite the excitement of the discussion... 'You are what you do.'"[7]
Awards and nominations
Jerry Goldsmith won the BMI Film & TV Award for his original score, and Morgan Freeman was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture but lost to Denzel Washington for Training Day.
See also
References
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Along Came a Spider (film) |
- Official website
- Along Came a Spider at the Internet Movie Database
- Along Came A Spider at AllRovi
- Came a Spider.htm Along Came a Spider (film) at Box Office Mojo
- Along Came a Spider at Rotten Tomatoes
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Along Came a Spider
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