The movie CROSS came out today with Tyler Perry playing the lead role as Alex Cross. I couldn't wait to see it so I attended the 1:00 matinee. There weren't that many people in the theatre. They will probably get a larger crowd tonight and during the weekend.
As with any novel made into a movie there are going to be deviations. I also wanted to see how Tyler Perry would do as an action hero. This movie was fantastic! Tyler Perry showed even further the range of his acting talent. I'd like to see him in future dramas and serious roles.
I won't go into the plot but if you're a fan of James Patterson you'll know what I'm talking about here.
Ciceley Tyson plays Nana Mama. I think she has paid more mamas, grandmamas and old ladies than anyone. She was playing old ladies when she was young. If that's not typecasting...
Matthew Fox is excellent as the psychopathic villain. Just when you think the story has been told and it's time for the credits to roll, Alex Cross says, it's not over. Cross wants to know who hired the assassin. So there's your surprise ending. There were some scenes that simulated extreme violence and so I closed my eyes.
The first Alex Cross was played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls. He's a wonderful actor but he didn't fit the fantasy picture I had of Alex Cross. At that time I had Ving Rhames or L.L. Cool J in mind. My movie companion and I lamented that we weren't going to see a 40 something man with a chiseled body take off his shirt. Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross is just as unconvincing as Zoe Saldana portraying Nina Simone. Outlandish.
There was a movie goer there with two small children. While they weren't completely disruptive, they were a distraction. And people wonder why children do some of the adult things they do. Halfway through the movie, I left that theatre and went into another one that was also showing Cross. It was 30 minutes behind the other one. I was better able to concentrate on the movie.
I'm a big fan of the author James Patterson. The first novel of his I read was , The Midnight Club. It was published in 1988 and that was about the time a librarian friend told me about it and suggested I read it. I didn't want to put it down. There was mystery, suspense, unexpected events and it was such a head spinner that it made me want to know more about the author. For a long time we (my fellow Patterson fans) were in the dark about James Patterson. There was not a picture of him or bio on the jacket of his books which made him even more mysterious. Who was this person? How did he come up with such spellbinding exotic thrillers? I was to later add to my Patterson reads in the Alex Cross series: Along Came A Spider, Kiss the Girls, Jack &Jill , See How They Run ,Cat and Mouse, Pop Goes the Weasel, Roses are Red , Violets are Blue,. These are only the beginning. There are too many to list.
In addition to the Alex Cross series Patterson has the Women's Murder Club series as well as books for teens and romance. There have been numerous books with cowriters. I won't say I've enjoyed all of his books and I'm still wondering why he has coauthors on some of the titles but I will say I enjoy the Cross and Murder Club books.
THAT'S IT***
No comments:
Post a Comment