Director Lee Tamahori takes audiences on a wild ridethrough a kidnapper's world and a detective's journey to find the truth. Thoughthe movie is exciting and doesn't look like a David Fincher flick, which isunusual for a crime thriller, those people who read James Patterson's bestsellingbook will be disappointed in the movie version.

"Along Came aSpider" opens with a bang. Detective Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) loses hispartner on a sting operation gone bad in one of the most exciting scenes in themovie. After a phone call from Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott) who just kidnapped aSenator's daughter, Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), from her private school, Cross isdragged back into the police world.

Cross's partner in the book,Sampson, is nowhere to be found in the movie; instead, Cross is partnered withthe Secret Service agent (Monica Potter) who lost the Senator's daughter. Shespends more than half the movie feeling sorry for herself and another quarter ofit looking up to Cross. The rest of the movie follows the book's twists andturns, but don't worry, you don't have to read the book to understand the movie.

There aren't a lot of jokes that come with the predictable dialogue andplot twists, but one thing that is worth laughing at is Potter's apartment. Thewalls are a bright yellow that distracts you from everything that happensthere.

There are a few other things I didn't like. First, the father ofthe kidnapped girl is supposed to be a Senator, which means he gives a lot ofspeeches, right? Then why doesn't he really talk until the movie's end? His wife(Penelope Ann Miller) does all the talking. The next is how Freeman's characterseems identical to his role in "Seven": he acts like he's better andsmarter than everyone else.

"Along Came a Spider" is for thosewho like cop thrillers, not those who like action comedies. This spider has bite,but it's not lethal.
This movie is rated R. All those under 17must be accompanied by an adult.