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Along Came A Spider (2001)
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Genre: |
Crime/Drama |
Director: |
Lee Tamahori
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Rating: |
R |
Running Time: |
105 Minutes |
Release Date: |
April 6, 2001 |
Movie Trailer: |
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Discuss and vote: |
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Cast: |
Morgan Freeman
Monica Potter
Michael Wincott
Jay O. Sanders
Dylan Baker
Billy Burke
Penelope Ann Miller
Mika Boorem
Anton Yelchin
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Pickup Line: Weaves A Pretty Good Web!
Quickie: A forensics expert and Secret Service Agent combine forces to rescue a kidnapped Senator's daughter. Ooooh..What a tangled web we weave...
The Long Review:
This prequel to "Kiss The Girls," in a word, is twisty. It takes the audience for a wild ride filled with surprises, red herrings, and twists and turns. Starring Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross and Monica Potter as Jezzie Flannigan, it tells the story of a forensic psychologist (Cross) and a Secret Service agent (Flannigan ) who become partners as they embark on a mad chase after a notorious kindapper who has a Senator's daughter, Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), in his custody.
The plot is complex, to say the least. Some may find it hard to follow, even call it messy, since several subplots are introduced and intertwined. Seems like the writers were really going for that "tangled web metaphor". There are also some inconsistencies to the story, occurrences that are never explained, as well as events that could never happen in real life. We guess you just have to take the movie at face value. If you think too much, your experience may get ruined. So if you find yourself going, "Oh, c'mon! Give me a break! Are you for real?!" or "Geez, Alex Cross is a brilliant man, but he ain't no damn psychic!" or "Dang, how did that happen?!" just relax, breathe, and tell your intuitive mind to take a hike for a while. Trust me. You'll be entertained much more that way. I know I was! Unfortunately, good ol' Ebert wasn't. About the movie, he says, "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." Whoopsie. 'Guess he wasn't in the mood to keep up and forgive.
The dialogue is decent, as is the acting. Morgan Freeman is well, Morgan Freeman. Whatever role he touches seems to turn to gold. It's Monica Potter who really surprised me. I've never made a secret of my lack of esteem for her. But she's actually pretty convincing in this movie. Okay, so her eyes have a blank look to them most of the time and for the love of Hollywood, she just can't emote on-screen...But for this movie, it looks like she reached from deep, deep, deep within her to deliver a credible performance. Ain't that somethin'? Mika Boorem, who plays Megan Rose, shines in her own right as well. This shoo-in for a younger Kirsten Dunst should get somewhere...undoubtedly way further than Monica Potter ever will. Okay, I'll stop.
With all the excitement and unexpected turns this movie contains, you'd think that it would fly by in a whiz, right? Wrong. This hour-and-a-half movie felt like a two-hour one. Don't get me wrong. I quite enjoyed it. But it just felt I was on my derriere for a long time. Maybe I was just so inundated by all the surprises thrown my way, I felt a little...um...tired?
Overall, "Along Came A Spider" is a good film in that it gives you the unexpected for that "Whoooaaaa" factor. If you're into surprises, this is your type of movie. Sure, it's not that credible. But it is entertaining. And most of us go to the movies to be entertained.
In Two Minutes:
Did you know?
- Apparently, Monica Potter puts castor oil on her eyelashes and eyebrows to make them thicker. Maybe she should put an acting cap on her head to make her acting better.
- Morgan Freeman played "Easy Reader" on the TV show "The Electric Company." Wow. The Children's Television Workshop is one hell of a talent scout.
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