Writer: Ng Suzhen

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Watch this if you liked: “Kiss The Girls” and “Along Came A Spider”

"Alex Cross" falls short on many counts.

Most would expect to be entertained by twists and turns, given that the main character is Alex Cross (Tyler Perry), a detective and psychologist, who is a natural at psychoanalysing everyone and every situation around him. Unfortunately, instead of keeping audiences in a guessing game of figuring out who Picasso (Matthew Fox) is and what his motivations are, the movie chooses to instead give more screen time to portray Cross as a wholesome family man.

The profiling of someone as psychotic as Picasso seem to be done rather simply, with all members of the police department involved relying solely on what Cross says without a doubt. And Cross seem to do it rather easily too, with a squint and a serious look on his face. His attempts at figuring out Picasso does not seem to need the backup of any evidence or even the helpful imagery guidance that audiences are accustomed to. This disappoints as being enlightened about how the answers are derived is part of the parcel of why action-thrillers are fun.

The action scenes are also not much to look at literally. The decision to commence shaky camera work for fight scenes is not the best move as the audience would be too busy trying to figure out what happened.

Fox plays Picasso effectively, oozing a calm yet unstable personality. He is believable as the hired mercenary with a penchant for inflicting pain but is unfortunately not allowed to further terrify thanks to a script that doesn't do justice to the story.

As a mentally unstable character, Picasso's torture scenes are significantly mellowed down on-screen. His victims' deaths are not one of those that make people writhe uncomfortably in their seats. He should have been a worthy adversary of Cross but somehow, the chemistry is lacking. At times, you don't really believe you are watching the both of them in the same movie. While Picasso is working on being psycho, Cross is too busy being a family man.

What is surprising is that at the end of the day, you do not care much for the central characters at all but rather have a soft spot for Cross' daughter and mum, who have some screen time.

If you still insist on giving this movie a chance, the best way to enjoy it is to refrain from learning anything about the plot. At least it packs a dismal surprise or two. But other than that, do not expect much.

Cinema Online, 04 December 2012