By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * )
Building from the character he created for Seven and reprising the one he played in Kiss The Girls, Morgan Freeman stars as Dr Alex Cross, DC detective and famous forensic psychologist. When his partner is killed Cross slides into depression and builds model boats
— until another killer sets an elaborate puzzle for him.
This time it's a strangling and a kidnapping at an exclusive private school. The hostage is a senator's daughter, so Cross finds himself working with Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter).
Good set-up but from here the plot and the logic of this thriller go downhill. Well, downhill would be okay, because it's usually a straight line, but this one throws in so many wrong turnings and sidetracks and backtracks that it becomes all but incomprehensible.
As always, Freeman is masterful, even when given such confusing material to work with, and Lee Tamahori sets the scenes with a feel for the brooding sense of foreboding.
*Rental video, DVD: Today
• DVD features: movie (103 mins); scene selection, Making Of ... documentary; trailer, multiple languages and subtitles.
