Movie Review - "Along Came a Spider" 04/06/2001

Well, I figured that since I haven't posted a movie review up here for a while, I might as well post what I can when I can. ;-) Here is the most recent movie I have watched: "Along Came a Spider", released in 2001. This movie was chosen by my mister because of Morgan Freeman, who is the main character of this movie. He is one of our favorite actors, along with Pesci and deNiro and a few others. :-)

Trailer:

Plotline:
A child is abducted by a man who was her computer tech teacher at a private school. We see so many guards and whatnot at the beginning of the movie so to say that it is a well guarded place. So to see this young child ( "three feet tall" ) abducted so quickly and easily from the school is a bit disturbing.

The abductor gets a hold of this guy named Dr. Cross , played by Freeman, who is a criminal profiler. He lost a partner 8 months prior to the child abduction and the abductor calls him out as a chicken. He also wants to get Cross to profile him and practically immortalize him as someone similar to the person who abducted Charles Lindbergh's child back in the 1930's, or so we are led to believe.


Music:
I couldn't hear much in this movie. I am glad that I didn't hear much because it was hard to hear sometimes anyways.


Character Development:
There isn't much character development in this movie though the abducted child does show her wit/intelligence trying to leave the abductor and blocks one out of the room that she was locked in, but supposedly she was this clever/intelligent at the beginning of the movie because she was sending digital notes to a friend before she was abducted.


Relationships:
Relationships are not a main focus in this movie because the main character is trying to find the abductor before the child gets killed. The first 48 hours are the most important in those kind of cases so the action needs to be quick.


Mental Stimulation:
I liked this movie a lot for the mental side of the story. How do you understand an abductor or a criminal? That's the main job of a profiler. [See the show "Criminal Minds" for something similar.] The way that Cross tries to think like the abductor and plays the game that the abductor set up is quite interesting indeed. It definitely made me think a bit and made me wonder if I would be able to do the same things that he did - criminal psychology.


I'm not going to say much more about this movie because (in general) all the above is all that has to be said, without giving spoilers. The plot twist in the movie was amazing but you have to see it for yourself because knowing it previously would ruin the movie, I think...


Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.

I personally put this at a 4/5. It was pretty good and I definitely recommend it, but it isn't one of the movies that I would want to go buy the DVD. Well worth the view, especially if you like the criminal psychology / criminal minds / criminal profiling stuff. :-)

~Gracie Mae DeLunac