Tyler Perry stars as detective Alex Cross, a role Morgan Freeman occupied in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.
Perry is not terrible, but everybody and everything surrounding him is. Director Rob Cohen employs sloppy editing, a maudlin soundtrack and bad supporting performances in this hackneyed story of an assassin (poorly played by Matthew Fox) and his inexplicable vendetta against Cross. Fox got really skinny for the role, and the effort shows in his physicality. Unfortunately, the film also reveals that Lost may’ve represented his acting peak, because he’s ridiculously overwrought and amateurish. Perry handles a couple of heavy emotional scenes with palpable strength, although he doesn’t quite cut it as an action star. Edward Burns shows up as Cross’ partner, and it turns out he’s a pretty bad actor, too. Horribly edited fight scenes and silly dialogue kill this movie.
