Maybe he should have done it in drag

Enlarge Image

Madea? Is that you? Perry aims, but misfires in Alex Cross. (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

Less sass. More kickass.

That seems to be the intended career path of Tyler Perry, the one-man media industry behind comedy-melodramas such as Why Did I Get Married? and I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Onscreen, Perry has mostly made an impression in drag as his statuesque, no-nonsense matriarch character Madea.

Jettisoning the writer and director credits, Perry attempts something of a re-invention as an actor with Alex Cross, playing the title role of the savvy forensic psychologist more readily associated with Morgan Freeman from the thrillers Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.

But Perry doesn't make the transition gracefully, and it doesn't help that the movie, ham-handedly directed by Rob Cohen, glides through every cliché in the genius-cop-vs.-creative-psycho songbook.

Based on Cross, the 12th novel in James Patterson's series, this story offers a change-up from the usual maniac killers as Cross goes up against an international assassin.

Make that "international psycho assassin." Referred to as "Picasso" for his tendency to draw sketches of his own crime scenes, our bad guy (overacted by an especially twitchy Matthew Fox of TV's Lost) is one of those bulgy-eyed psycho supermen who can gain access to any high-security facility without breaking a sweat. He is put on Cross's radar during an investigation of a particularly sadistic murder involving a debauched socialite affiliated with mysterious French industrialist Giles Mercier (Jean Reno).

Picasso is one of those bogus maniacs given to dropping clues as to when he'll strike next. Cross duly anticipates his next move and shows up to a locked-down office building with his obligatory wisecracking partner Kane (Ed Burns) and Kane's secret girlfriend/fellow detective Monica (Rachel Nichols). They prevent the assassination and wound the assassin.

Cross thinks that since the killer is a professional, he won't seek revenge against the cops. But he is wrong, and his mistake endangers just about the entire supporting cast, including Cross's wife (Carmen Ejogo) and his mother (Cicely Tyson).

Director Cohen, who has positioned himself as a slick action go-to guy with films such as The Fast and the Furious and XXX, seems to have run out of tricks. His stylistic gimmicks, such as the inside-the-car point-of-view of a car crash, are old hat. When required to stage a fight scene between the big, lumbering Tyler Perry and the skinny, frantic Matthew Fox, he just shoots lots of fight footage and lets the editor cut it into a fast-paced, incomprehensible mess.

As for Perry, well, he didn't do himself any favours taking over a role from Morgan Freeman. Freeman has charisma. Without the frock, Perry does not. As an actor, Freeman is dramatically nimble (an important attribute when it comes to playing acute intelligence), whereas Perry plods, apparently not aware of the difference between slow burn and just plain slow. At a couple of points in the film, Perry is decisively blown off the screen by the little girl (Yara Shahidi) who plays his young daughter.

Finally, where Freeman has gravitas, Perry registers dead weight. The movie sinks accordingly.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Alex Cross

Starring Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox and Ed Burns

Polo Park, Towne

14A

101 minutes

2 stars out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 19, 2012 D4