Along Came a Spider (2001)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Sophie B

  
  Good acting from Freeman and Yelchin but that's pretty much the only good thing in this! Badly thought out film with a horribly predictive plot. Potter's performance was absolutely awful. Ending was plain and I did get the feeling that I was watching a sequel which I now… More
  Good acting from Freeman and Yelchin but that's pretty much the only good thing in this! Badly thought out film with a horribly predictive plot. Potter's performance was absolutely awful. Ending was plain and I did get the feeling that I was watching a sequel which I now know was part of a book series. I don't know if the book was as bad as this but if it was, the producer needs to be fired.

• Anthony L

  
  Not bad but not as good as Kiss the girls. The third film is going to be called Humpty dumpty sat on a wall. That?s not true by the way.

• Coxxie M

  
  BEST. VILLAIN. EVER.

• Candy R

  
  Good thriller with a good cast. A congressman's daughter is kidnapped for ransom. Interesting twist at the end.

• Lady D

  
  A very watchable film, however, I do feel that Morgan Freeman takes on far too many of these type of roles when he's demonstrated much better acting skills in other films.

• Matthew C

  
  Superbly decent.

• Red L

  
  A spider's web is apropos to this movie. There are plot twists everywhere as Morgan Freeman and an FBI agent played by Monica Potter solve the kidnapping of a senator's daughter.

• Luke B

  
  Freeman attempts to recapture his career defining role from Se7en, while the audience attempts to stop laughing at the shockingly bad CGI at the beginning. Although smart and engaging at times the twists are so ridiculous they insult the rest of the film. Wincott and Potter are rather… More
  Freeman attempts to recapture his career defining role from Se7en, while the audience attempts to stop laughing at the shockingly bad CGI at the beginning. Although smart and engaging at times the twists are so ridiculous they insult the rest of the film. Wincott and Potter are rather good, bringing Sinister and Naive performances to a fairly generic film.

• Dean M

  
  The story is fantastic, with forensic psychologist Alex Cross, from 1997's <i>Kiss the Girls</i>, who figures things out like magic and plot twists that are surprising only because they make sense.

• Dean !

  
  I love the twists in this crime thriller. Strong cast again, never tire of watching it.

• Jason S

  
  Good times. Morgan Freeman was great in this one.

• Stuart B

  
  Too obvious...

• Leigh R

  
  Good thriller.

• Nate Z

  
  [font=Arial][color=darkred]Anybody not tired of the serial killer genre yet? To that one out of the millions who raised their hand in the far back - you're in luck! Enjoy 'Kiss the Girls'? That same one in the back is even more fortunate. Here comes 'Along Came A… More
  [font=Arial][color=darkred]Anybody not tired of the serial killer genre yet? To that one out of the millions who raised their hand in the far back - you're in luck! Enjoy 'Kiss the Girls'? That same one in the back is even more fortunate. Here comes 'Along Came A Spider' and its banality will knock you off any tuffet. Is that a word even used anymore?[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]'Spider' is a continuation of the characters in 'Kiss the Girls' (even though 'Spider' was written before 'Girls'). Morgan Freeman returns as Alex Cross, a hard-nosed police detective and best-selling novelist on criminal profiling. He's suffering from 'Cliffhanger' syndrome: the amassment of guilt from seeing someone close die in the line of duty and blaming themselves for it. See Morgan lost a female partner in a botched sting that opens the film with the worst CGI scene I've ever seen. He has a scene of regret then moves on to the case at hand, only to inevitably have the situation come up again and be the test of his nerves. It's all standard cliché.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The crime that draws all our characters in revolves around the kidnapping of a Senator's daughter at a lofty private school in Washington DC This is no serial killer movie, no, it's a kidnap movie. Whatever the crime this flick centers on it still follows the superfluous serial killer movie rules to a grizzled T.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Monica Potter plays a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the girl who becomes involved with the case with her extensive knowledge of the kidnapper, Professor Sonje (Michael Wincott). Potter has previously been seen as the sad wife in 'Con Air, the dead chick in 'Patch Adams', and the girl who stars next to the guy whose acting is all about flat-lining in 'Head Over Heels'. So in these terms 'Along Came A Spider' is a step up. Her character is pedestrian and uninvolving. She has no edge or depth and every time she's on screen, this tuff of blonde hair sucks all the air out of the film.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Freeman, God love him, needs to start learning how to say "no" to any serial killer (kidnap film) offered to him. He's a great actor but the Alex Cross solves killers (kidnappers) franchise isn't one to tie his rope around. Freeman does his best and brightens the film when it sags, but even he can't save it. And his Executive Producer credit seems all the more ominous.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Naturally, an audience is left to disbelieve some of the absurdities of the genre but 'Along Came A Spider' piles them too high and too fast to disbelieve. The kidnapper disguises himself as a plump British history teacher for a whole two YEARS in preparation for his act. Two years?! What would happen if she ever transferred? The worst part is his name - Sonje. Every time I hear the name it makes me giggle a bit. I cannot take anything seriously when the bad guy is named Sonje ("We'll do whatever you want Sonje, just don't harm the girl!"). Sprinkle unintentional laughter throughout. And for kidnappers and criminals these have got to be the dumbest since Colonel Klink. There is a scene where the kidnapper gives the detained child a meal… with a fork and knife! It's like going to a prison and giving certain members scissors and leaving them alone for two hours.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]If you are having a serial whatever movie you must make your serial whatever man intriguing or turn the flick into a guessing game until the end credits. The serial killer (I'm saying this now because he does kill multiple people - so there!) in 'Along Came A Spider' is bland as can be, despite the wonderfully rich and venomous voice of Wincott. How as an audience are we to be enthralled with a whiny adversary that bores us?[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]There are numerous other head-smacking absurdities. Like when our ace Morgan Freeman looks to a computer belonging to a suspect and instantly remembers an off-hand remark in one conversation that of course is the password. And he even spells it correctly with an inclusion of a symbol![/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The movie is based on James Patterson's novels all seeming to have nursery rhyme style titles. Directed by Lee Tamahori ('Mullholland Falls', 'The Edge'), it has moments of briskness that at least keep the pacing alive. On its whole the film still does not work. It feels like reheated serial killer (kidnapper) movie just out of a Tupperware container.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]'Along Came A Spider' is nothing new, nothing different, and nothing truly entertaining. Pray for Morgan Freeman please.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: C- [/color][/font]

• Jeffrey M

  
  Certainly not a smart thriller, Along Came a Spider is filled with cliches and asinine plot twists. But Morgan Freeman combined with such an outlandish premise make it watchable.

• Deb S

  
  Along Came A Spider is based on a novel by James Patterson and Morgan Freeman is a detective, with a doctorate in criminal psychology who is summoned out of retirement to help locate the daughter of a US Senator who's been kidnapped by her teacher Gary Soneji for fame. Michael… More
  Along Came A Spider is based on a novel by James Patterson and Morgan Freeman is a detective, with a doctorate in criminal psychology who is summoned out of retirement to help locate the daughter of a US Senator who's been kidnapped by her teacher Gary Soneji for fame. Michael Wincott appears as the scheming, but patient villain of the film. Taking on Secret Service agent (Monica Potter) Jezzie Flannigan as his partner, Cross tries to work out enough about Soneji to profile and catch him. The action scenes were well done; intense, well paced, and not too over the top. It's not as good as Kiss the girls but well worth watching.

• Joseph E

  
  No matter how loose the plot starnds are, It was addicting and kept me in tune the whole time. Freeman doesn't overact and Keeps this detective story afloat until the end.

• Allison B

  
  Decent movie, I guess, but not as good as the book. Not by a long shot.

• Sunil J

  
  Most James Patterson movies are not good. This one is pretty bad and Monica Potter is mainly at fault.

• Henrik S

  
  Morgan Freeman makes this movie work. A subtle and tranquil actor in the middle of a ludacrious story with more plot twists than a game of twister and a plausability taken straight from the mental asylum's last play production. James Patterson (on whose novel this movie is based)… More
  Morgan Freeman makes this movie work. A subtle and tranquil actor in the middle of a ludacrious story with more plot twists than a game of twister and a plausability taken straight from the mental asylum's last play production. James Patterson (on whose novel this movie is based) is one of Americas most prolific writers, regulary serving up a wild mix of crime and suspense. The movie is enjoyable whenever Morgan Freeman opts for old school deduction work and the pace is slow but tense. Yet, the movie ever so often accelerates into bizarre and weird action sequences which make you cringe, for being so laughable. All in all, it is a must for Freeman fans, but everyone else will only see the average American blockbuster crime movie in it.

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