Alex Cross (2012)

MoviesAlex Cross

Mar 11

The last time we saw F.B.I. profiler Alex Cross on the big screen, he was played by Morgan Freeman in both Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001). The franchise, inspired by novels of author James Patterson, were subsequently rebooted in 2012 with Tyler Perry in the lead role. Alex Cross attempts to establish the origins of the character and explore a pivotal case he investigated while a detective in Detroit. Alex Cross and his partners Tommy Kane (Edward Burns) and Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols) cross swords with a serial killer they dub Picasso (Matthew fox), who is murdering the business associates of French Industrialist Mercier (Jean Reno). During the course of the investigation it becomes clear that the killer has a specific interest in Cross himself.

Alex Cross is based upon a central protagonist whose primary skills are his mental and analytical abilities. By nature, the character is first and foremost a thinker. Unfortunately, this element is quickly abandoned in the movie which opts for a pure action approach to the material. Suspense and drama are replaced with more obvious visual cues. Matthew Fox despite looking the part has an ill-defined role. The weak script by Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson is content to establish him as an evil character simply by the violent act he commits. Furthermore, Tyler Perry's overtly theatrical performance somewhat smothers the subtleties of Alex Cross.

Director Rob Cohen uses a great deal of visual gimmickry and cranks the pace, editing and volume up to eleven. It is his signature approach that works well with certain types of movies but seem jarringly inappropriate with this material. The same could also be said for Ricardo Della Rosa's under-lit cinematography with its muted colour palette. The movies tone puts it at odds with its PG-13 rating. Alex Cross therefore cannot fully explore its own strong themes and seems more to titillate than shock. The entire movie reeks of contemporary board room film making in the way that the source material has been so obviously misunderstood. Talk about trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Alex Cross is a stilted endeavour and a missed opportunity. The central roles are miscast and the directing is in the wrong idiom. The movie needs to decide what it exactly wants to be. As it is, it sits awkwardly between a psychological thriller and a generic action movie. Its faults are further compounded by its mean-spirited nature. As a result Alex Cross did not kickstart a lucrative franchise, despite the threat of a sequel. For a closer approximation of the central character revisit the earlier adaptations. They are not without flaw but are better than this.

Movies, Horror, Dracula, Hammer, 4K Restoration, BFI Southbank

Dracula 4K Restoration

Movies, Horror, Dracula, Hammer, 4K Restoration, BFI Southbank

Hammer Studios 1958 Dracula (released in America as Horror of Dracula) revitalised the gothic horror genre by introducing a vibrant, visceral intensity that permanently altered the depiction of cinematic vampires. Breaking away from the black-and-white, stage-bound traditions of the 1931 Universal classic, Hammer Film Productions delivered a dynamic adaptation with a vivd, Eastman colour aesthetic. The atmospheric set designs, fast pace and iconic lead performances shocked and thrilled audiences at the time. Christopher Lee is both suave and feral as the Count. While Peter Cushing provides the perfect intellectual counterweight as an energetic Doctor Van Helsing. Director Terence Fisher adds an under current of eroticism to proceedings, along with some jolting and lurid set pieces. James Bernard’s pounding and dissonant three-note motif is explicitly timed to mimic the syllables of the Count's name. Dracula established the definitive blueprint for modern gothic horror and established Hammer's legacy.

Movies, Horror, Dracula, Hammer, 4K Restoration, BFI Southbank

Movies, Horror, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)

Movies, Horror, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

College Professor Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) has a recurring dream about a man swimming on a lake late at night. A woman named Marcia (Margot Kidder) paddles a small boat out to meet him. As the man tries to climb aboard, Marcia hits him with an oar and he drowns. Perplexed and disturbed, Peter approaches Doctor Sam Goodman (Paul Hecht) who is conducting research into sleep at the College. He conducts several tests which prove that Peter’s experiences are not registering as dreams. The Doctor suggests that they’re hallucinations but Peter theorises that they may be memories of a past life. A chance viewing of a TV documentary about Massachusetts, triggers further memories, so Peter decides to go an investigate. He subsequently learns that the man in his visions is a former Tennis coach, Jeff Curtis, who died in the late 1940s under mysterious circumstances. Is Peter the reincarnation of this man? If so, didn’t he have a daughter, Ann (Jennifer O’Neil). Furthermore is Marcia, Ann’s mother, still alive?

Movies, Horror, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

Movies, Action, Italian Exploitation, Giallo, Blazing Magnum

Blazing Magnum (1976)

Movies, Action, Italian Exploitation, Giallo, Blazing Magnum

Mainstream films are easy to recommend to people. They’re usually formulaic, work within clear parameters and they’re not controversial. Most people, when viewing such film on someone else’s suggestion, are left with a fairly simply choice. Did they like it or not? Whatever the outcome, no feathers are ruffled. No one looks at you askance afterwards and says “why the hell did you think I’d like that piece of shit”? If something like this happens, then you have clearly not recommended a mainstream film. Perhaps you’ve suggested something that’s a little more of an acquired taste. Something niche, from a very specific sub-genre. Which brings me neatly to Blazing Magnum AKA Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976). The US title gives the impression that this film is a hard boiled cop thriller, like so many others that followed in the wake of Dirty Harry. But there’s a clue in the European title. Yes, this movie has more than just a whiff of a giallo about it.

Movies, Action, Italian Exploitation, Giallo, Blazing Magnum

Movies, Horror, Hammer, The Revenge of Frankenstein

The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

Movies, Horror, Hammer, The Revenge of Frankenstein

In the year 1860, Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) faces execution by guillotine for the murders perpetrated by the creature he created. With the assistance of a hunchback named Karl (Oscar Quitak) he avoids death by beheading the priest who came to give him the last rites. The priest’s body is then mistakenly buried by the authorities. Three years later, Victor, now using the name Doctor Stein, has established himself as a prosperous physician in Karlsbrück, serving both affluent patients and the poor at a paupers’ hospital. Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews), a junior member of the medical council, recognises Victor and being an admirer, seeks to become his apprentice. Victor and Hans then undertake an experiment to transplant Karl’s living brain into a new, more refined body, rather than a grotesque monstrosity the Baron has previously made. Karl is eager to have a new healthy body, especially after encountering Margaret Conrad (Eunice Gayson), the charming new assistant at the hospital.

Movies, Horror, Hammer, The Revenge of Frankenstein

Questionnaire, The Movie Questionnaire, Movies

The Movie Questionnaire

Questionnaire, The Movie Questionnaire, Movies

This movie questionnaire was originally created by Alexander from Cinemaniac Reviews. Sadly, I believe that website is now defunct. However, that doesn’t in anyway invalidate the questionnaire itself which has some very good questions about your relationship with cinema. Some of my answers to the questions posed are about films that I enjoy, as opposed to those that are considered cinematic classics. However, I have answered some questions more seriously than others, especially the one about undeserving recipients of the Best Film Oscar. I struggled with a couple of questions because I no longer go the cinema as frequently as I did 10 years ago. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of the films I find interesting end up going straight to streaming after very brief theatrical releases. Some do not even get shown in cinemas. Hence I view far more at home. But I digress. On with the questions and answers. Feel free to comment below and share your views.

Questionnaire, The Movie Questionnaire, Movies

Movies, Exit 8, Horror, Thriller

Exit 8 (2025)

Movies, Exit 8, Horror, Thriller

Exit 8 is a sophisticated and claustrophobic psychological thriller directed by Genki Kawamura, which skilfully transforms a minimalist indie walking-simulator game into a cinematic existential enigma. This overtly metaphorical film renders the repetitive nature and drudgery of modern working life into a physical environment in which the lead character is trapped and must find a way out. A random, brutal maze filled with an atmosphere of indifference to the lab rats that find themselves trapped within. Or is it their personal guilt that has put them there? Genki Kawamura’s psychological mystery draws inspiration from the Japanese video game of the same name, as well as from the cyclical nature of Groundhog Day and endless corridors of the Overlook Hotel in Kubrick’s The Shining. Although there are jump scares and some ghoulish imagery, this is not a horror vehicle. Instead this is a disquieting psychological drama with a strong sense of morality.

Movies, Exit 8, Horror, Thriller

Movies, Theatrical Edition, Director's Cut, Director's Edition, Extended Edition, Reconstruction, Cinema

Theatrical Version or Director's Cut Part 2

Movies, Theatrical Edition, Director's Cut, Director's Edition, Extended Edition, Reconstruction, Cinema

I wrote a post 18 month’s ago regarding whether a directors cut of a film is superior by default to the version originally shown in cinemas. Obviously the answer was no and I then went on to give three examples of films where I think the theatrical release is better to lengthier or substantially altered director’s cut that was subsequently made available at a later date. This time round in this post, I would like to do the complete opposite. I shall provide some examples of films that I think are significantly improved by a longer cut or a substantially, restructured edit. Note some of these examples are technically not a “director’s cuts” but a restoration or reconstruction of the director’s original vision. I shall endeavour to highlight what specific material or broader changes make each respective film “better”. As ever, all of these examples are a matter of subjective opinion and my views are presented as such, not “fact”.

Movies, Theatrical Edition, Director's Cut, Director's Edition, Extended Edition, Reconstruction, Cinema

Movies, The Lost Continent, Hammer, Horror, Creature Feature

The Lost Continent (1968)

Movies, The Lost Continent, Hammer, Horror, Creature Feature

In 1968 the dilapidated freighter Corita hastily leaves Freetown to avoid a customs inspection. Captain Lansen (Eric Porter) has a cargo of dangerous explosives which he is smuggling so he can finally retire. His ship’s passengers also have reasons for leaving in a hurry. Dr. Webster (Nigel Stock), together with his daughter Unity (Suzanna leigh), is relocating due to his indiscretions with patients and illegal operations. Alcoholic pianist Harry Tyler (Tony Beckley) is aimlessly drifting from port to port. Eva Peters (Hildegard Knef) is fleeing from her husband with stolen bearer bonds which she intend to use to buy back her son from his evil clutches Caracas. Ricaldi (Ben Carruthers), a questionable lawyer, is pursuing Eva to retrieve the stolen bonds. First officer Hemmings (Neil McCallum) suggests that the ship should return to Freetown after an imminent Hurricane warning. The Captain asks the passengers and they are unanimous that they do not wish to return. However a mutinous crew, the bad weather and the instability of the explosives force everyone to abandon ship. The survivors find themselves adrift in a lifeboat surrounded by a strange carnivorous seaweed.

Movies, The Lost Continent, Hammer, Horror, Creature Feature

Movies, Action, Mutiny, Jason Statham

Mutiny (2026)

Movies, Action, Mutiny, Jason Statham

Jason Statham is an exemplar of the US mantra of “staying in your lane”. He makes action movies and occasionally strays into action comedies. His formula broadly works and is sufficiently lucrative to keep Mr. Statham employed. Therefore, if you watch a film in which he stars, you have a fairly good idea of what you’ll be getting. Of late, the criteria for his action vehicles have become more succinct. Jason Statham will play an innocuous character, such as a construction foreman or a bee keeper. Something terrible will subsequently befall another character who Mr. Statham has an emotional connection with in some capacity. He will subsequently hunt down those responsible and meet out death and violence. At some point the villain of the story will enquire as to how this innocuous person is so lethal. Research will then show that our Jason is in fact an ex-police officer/special forces operative/international assassin. There’s then a showdown and the villain dies. Job done.

Movies, Action, Mutiny, Jason Statham

Movies, Action, The Light at the Edge of the World, Kirk Douglas, Pirates

The Light at the Edge of the World (1971)

Movies, Action, The Light at the Edge of the World, Kirk Douglas, Pirates

The Light at the Edge of the World presented itself as an action movie upon its release in 1971. Based upon a story by Jules Verne, the Spanish American co-production was driven by its star Kirk Douglas, who curiously hired British director Kevin Billington to helm the project. This tale of a lighthouse keeper fighting a war of attrition against a group of pirates that have captured his island, was market as an adventure film ostensibly in the idiom of the authors previous works and as a pirate movie. MGM bought the rights to distribute the film in the UK on the misunderstanding that it was a family friendly production. It was not and remains so. They subsequently had to cut 15 minutes of violence and torture as well as an undercurrent of sexual assault to secure a suitable rating. Conversely, the US distributors received an arbitrary PG rating, despite the fact this is one of a handful of films that honestly depicts pirates as murderers, rapists and worse.

Movies, Action, The Light at the Edge of the World, Kirk Douglas, Pirates

Roger Edwards

Writer & editor of Contains Moderate Peril. A website about gaming, genre movies & cult TV. Co-host of the Burton & Scrooge podcast.

http://containsmoderateperil.com

Alex Cross (2012)

New Captain Scarlet (2005-6)

Classic Movie Themes: Theatre of Blood