Along Came a Spider (R, 2001)

Morgan Freeman returns as Dr. Alex Cross in this prequel to Kiss the Girls. Monica Potter plays Jazzie, a Secret Service agent assigned to a private school in Washington D.C. When Megan (Mikka Boorem), a child of a senator, is kidnapped from the school, Jazzie blames herself. Contacted by the kidnapper, Cross becomes involved in the case and seeks Jazzie's help.

Like the original, ALONG CAME A SPIDER has a nursery rhyme title and centers on a kidnapped girl. This time it is not a serial killer, just a madman inspired by the Lindburgh kidnap case, trying to make a name for himself with the crime of the new century. And this time the kidnap victim is not a woman but a little girl, the daughter of a United States senator. Let me just point out here that the Secret Service does not protect the children of senators or even senators, who are in a different branch of government. We'll give them some leeway for movie logic, on that one. But there are some lapses, like having the President of Russia living in Washington, DC, that are simply preposterous.

Freeman, as always, is a pleasure to watch, bringing a complexity and weight to every scene that almost makes up for a dumb plot. But even he cannot make up for Monica Potter, who replaces Ashley Judd as Freeman's co-star, and who is as bland as a Barbie doll, and with an even blanker facial expression. There are shoot-outs, chases, and near-misses, some well staged. But the final twist is just plain dumb, and neither the performers nor the script's explanation of the characters' motivation have the panache to carry it off. No one could, especially when they resort to that hoariest of clichés, the good guy figuring it all out and then going out to the deserted location where it is all happening all by himself! At least they spare us the long explanation by the villain about the master plan.