Blu-ray Review: Alex Cross

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

It’s kind of weird to see Tyler Perry in a film where he’s not dressed like a woman. Perry has been so identifiable as Medea, his signature creation spawned over a series of plays turned films, that traditional roles for the man seem odd. Perry has a reliable, bankable audience for his Christian-themed films aimed towards a more urban audience but one imagines that he wants to break out into more mainstream fare. There’s a certain limit his faith-based market will go; he can probably get another decade or two out of making inexpensive films because of the margins he works with. Which is why Alex Cross represents an interesting choice for the studio head/writer/director/producer/actor, of course; Perry’s first jump into a starring role he didn’t originate is a big leap of faith.

He can put on a dress and be Madea, or a traditional protagonist in his own films like Good Deeds, but taking on Alex Cross in a potential franchise is a big opportunity. Considering he had nothing to do with the film’s production outside of acting in Alex Cross it’s a big step for him as an actor. It’s one thing to act in your own films when you control everything about it; it’s another to be a cog in the machine. And Alex Cross winds up being about as good with Perry just acting as you’d think it’d be if he’d have taken over the franchise properly.

Alex Cross is the main protagonist of a series of novels by James Patterson, following the adventures of a top profiler for the Detroit P.D. He wants to work as a profiler for the FBI, of course, but his wife and family prefer to stay in Detroit. With his partner Kane (Edward Burns) they’re the two best detectives the DPD has. Enter Picasso (Matthew Fox), a hired killer for the mob, on a mission to take some people out. As Cross investigates it gets personal as Picasso kills Cross’s wife as well as a handful of police officers. From there it’s up to Cross to figure out how to stop the killer while also bringing down the people who hired him.

The film erases the history of Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, both of which starred Morgan Freeman as Cross, and starts us with a fresh version of Cross in Perry. And he’s fairly capable in the part, as well, despite it being a fairly perfunctory action role. This is a role he could do in his sleep for the most part but he brings a capable screen presence to the film. He has a natural charisma that’s hard to deny; he may not be your first pick for an action hero but he’s more than up to the task. This is capable genre work, nothing more, but it’s impressive to see Perry outside his comfort zone and not being the film’s low point.

The problem is that the film isn’t up to par with Perry.

This is typical genre work, nothing more, and Rob Cohen doesn’t seem to be really trying here. Cohen’s never been a great director, and marginally a capable one at best, and this is fairly pedestrian work by even his standards. It’s an action thriller with a police procedural aspect and Cohen is kind of going through the motions here. With some motivated work from Matthew Fox this could be an intriguing thriller but Cohen doesn’t do anything outside of what he has to do here. It’s an interesting change considering he’s been known for taking genre material and trying different things; this is a paint by numbers film that feels like it was taken away from him by the studio at some point.

Alex Cross would’ve gone direct to video, most likely, without someone like Perry in the lead role. That’s because it’s about as good as a generic DTV action thriller.

There’s a Commentary with Cohen that doesn’t shed a lot of light into the film, an EPK piece about the film’s production, some Deleted Scenes that don’t add much back into the film and the ever present Digital Copy of the film.

Summit Entertainment presents Alex Cross . Directed by Rob Cohen. Written by Marc Moss and Kerry Willamson, based on the novel “Cross” by James Patterson. Starring Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Edward Burns and John C. McGinley. Running time: 101 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released: February 5, 2013. Available at Amazon.com.

Don’t forget to get this on Blue-Ray now for all the extra effects, even if you already have it on DVD. A great way to get rid of all of you old DVDs, if you’re upgrading to Blue-Ray, is to sell them in at www.musicmagpie.com. The great thing about this website, is that you are also recycling them at the same time. Other places where you can do that are CEX and Ebay.