Streaming series review - Cross

Cross ** (out of 5) There have been several movies based on James Patterson’s popular series of novels featuring psychologist/ police detective Alex Cross. I’ve not read the books, but Morgan Freeman set the bar high for the character in 1997’s Kiss the Girls, and 2001’s Along Came a Spider. Tyler Perry took a break from zany comedies to try the role in 2012’s Alex Cross. He did well, but the movie didn’t.

So now Aldis Hodge comes to fill those shoes in a 10-episode streaming series on Amazon Prime. I was hopeful because I truly enjoyed his performances in the light caper series Leverage. He was so important to its entertainment value that the biggest shortcoming of the reboot – Leverage: Redemption - is that he’s only a recurring character, rather than one of the principals. So now he’s donning his serious pants for this relatively dark procedural drama. He’s fine, but the series isn’t.

As is often true for streaming fare, the entire season is about one case, with sidebars of family and romantic subplots for the lead and his colleagues. The cast ranges from fine to adequate, but the pace is dreadfully slow. It’s long on dialog and short on action. The credits show a slew of producers, but only a couple of writers. Somebody negotiated a contract committing them to 10 hours, when the material only supported 5 or 6. Compressed to that range of running time, it could have approached the dramatic tension level of Freeman’s movies. I was tempted to skip a few and pick it up at the end, but duty required the whole slog for this task of reportage.

The lighting was so lacking that it was hard to appreciate what was going on quite a bit of the time. In fairness, that could be due to my device, or production factors that will be improved before it’s released for streaming. But I can’t be accurate about how much heat is shown in the romantic moments, or blood and gore in the criminal acts. I don’t think there’s much that would be out of bounds for typical network prime time fare.

Hodge has shown his versatility. There could be a second season for Cross, which would be fine if they upgrade the script to a suitably tight, suspenseful package, more in line with those Freeman films. Hodge, the rest of the cast, and Patterson’s source material all deserve better.

(Cross streams on Amazon as of 11/14/24)