Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Rachel Nichols, Edward Burns, John C. McGinley
Running Time: 101 Mins
Certificate: 15
Extras: Deleted Scenes, Commentary with director Rob Cohen, “The Psychologist and the Butcher: Adapting and Filming Alex Cross”.
Tyler Perry’s name emblazoned across a movie poster or DVD cover is usually cause for concern. The so-called comedy actor, whose very presence in popular culture justifies the existence of the Razzie awards, has yet to star in a decent movie. With ALEX CROSS, the latest adaption of the popular book series by James Patterson, it’s another major misfire for Perry. But surprisingly, he’s the best thing in it.
It’s not to say that he deserves an Oscar. But Perry delivers a good performance as the titular detective, here investigating a serial killing spree perpetrated by LOST’s Matthew Fox. Unlike Fox, whose performance is as about as overly caricatured, stereotypical and lacklustre as you can get when playing a nutter, Perry is great, hitting the right emotional beats perfectly when required, and all together creating both a very likeable and very watchable main character.
Sadly, Perry’s performance isn’t enough to save this film from the depths of mediocrity. Rob Cohen’s direction is all shaky-cam and no substance, whilst the poor script runs pout of steam after only half an hour, resorting to cheap character deaths and grizzly violence in a desperate bid to build some kind of momentum.
If you’ve been waiting impatiently for Tyler Perry to deliver a good performance, then you’ll be glad of ALEX CROSS. Anyone else though will be bored and disappointed by what is a yawn-inducing, by-the-numbers crime drama.
Extras: A selection of Deleted Scenes (5 minutes), a 13 minute Making-Of documentary that tells you nothing new (though allows James Patterson to go on about how popular his books are), and a so-so commentary from director Rob Cohen.
Alex Cross is released on DVD & Blu-Ray in the UK 6th May, and is available from Entertainment on Video.
