MovieChat Forums > Along Came a Spider (2001) Discussion > Silly, stupid movie - Spoilers

Silly, stupid movie - Spoilers

posted 9 years ago by rockmail
6 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if this movie is close to the book material and I don't care since James Patterson is a hack. But the movie is just plain stupid from the first minute.

The story solution relies entirely on believing that a young girl victim has MacGyver like intellect to hatch escape techniques along with a maturity to determine adult's motives, and young woman antagonist who is brilliant right up to the point that she leaves a mountain of evidence on her computer including her victim's location.

Both of those circumstances are less believable than the Star Trek universe of technology occurring next month.

Total hogwash. And at the end, when the kidnapped girl INSTANTLY suspects her former protector the young woman, and INSTANTLY accepts the protection of the older detective who SHE'S NEVER MET is stupid beyond anything.

All the way through just a horrid waste of ridiculous fantasy.

[–] nihatb48 9 years ago

I agree with you that Meghan's instantly suspecting her former protector, a woman she's always admired, was a stretch, because at that point she would have absolutely no reason to do so...Her accepting the protection of the older detective, however, is a normal reaction I think...The fact that he put himself into harm's way to save her and all the dialogue she overheard would be enough to convince a twelve-year old girl that he is the good guy...

[–] FearlessOneDay 8 years ago

I agree with you that Meghan's instantly suspecting her former protector, a woman she's always admired, was a stretch, because at that point she would have absolutely no reason to do so..

That is the biggest stretch as far as I'm concerned. For example, it could have been remedied by an earlier shot showing Megan at school observing Jezzie and Devine clandestinely talking to each other.

Megan had been betrayed by two school employees-turned-kidnappers: Soneji and Devine. Linking Devine and Jezzie would have made Megan's suspicions about her more logical.

[–] yusef-ghanima 9 years ago

more stupid, when the freeman's character say, he strangled the teacher with a rope, it's a passion crime, he possibly had an affair with her! for god's sake, he's in school with heavy security, he made a silent killing, he couldn't shoot her! this movie is beyond stupid.

i mostly will not be able to answer your reply, since marissa mayer hacked my email, no notification

[–] Blubonnet_Spearman 9 years ago

She's a smart kid. Not every young child is as dumb as you were. Mozart was composing serious music at younger than ten

[–] alligatoruk 8 years ago

The school is supposed to be for gifted (rich) children, so that element can be explained away. The rest of the crappy movie cannot!

I do agree that James Patterson has become a hack as he produces so many books these days, he's obviously not even writing them himself, just putting his name to them.

HOWEVER, this is one of the early books (maybe even the first) and actually is really, really good. So much better than this poor excuse of a film.

I found Patterson's first ten books or so were all quite compelling (some Alex Cross, some other stories) but then they went so formulaic, so I gave up on them.

[–] FearlessOneDay 8 years ago

It's a popcorn movie so I forgive it for unbelievable plot devices that move the plot along: Alex Cross figures out Jezzie's password lickety split because.....well, do you want him to waste screen time trying 20 different passwords?

Here's another one: when Soneji is trying to kidnap the little Russian boy, he shoots the cops in their patrol car and dons the cop's hat etc. He knows the kid is going to use the phone booth, yet he is parked a distance away so....... he has to get out in the rain and do a slow mo walk towards the phone booth, giving Alex Cross enough time to identify him. Duh. Why didn't he just park closer to the phone booth ?