Rating: 
Summary: Convoluted Plot
Review: It seems as though I am in the minority with this film. I enjoyed the plot twists, though you had to follow them carefully. If you were watching you could, in theory, figure out who the bad guys are, though you really do not have all the facts to truly figure out every detail, somewhat like a Sherlock Holmes story.Our story focuses on one Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), who has carefully planned to kidnap the daughter of U.S. Senator Hank Rose, unconvincingly played by Michael Moriarty. The point of the kidnapping is not to kidnap Megan (Mika Boreem), but to get access to a foreign diplomat's son, who is good friends with Megan. Mr. Soneji is, as might be guessed, a bit of a wacko. He wants Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), a famous profiler, to chronicle the battle of wits between them. Ultimately there is a showdown between the two of them, but the showdown does not reveal the location of Megan. The plot twists and thickens more, and yet, there were clues in several places, I thought. I was quite puzzled when the security guards went running out the front of the school instead of just closing the gates. Further, I thought someone would have at least tried to grab a car to follow the kidnapper. Later, Jezzie Flanagan (Monica Potter) has a chance to shoot the kidnapper and does not, though she seemed to have a chance to wound him. All these little tidbits hint at the convolutions within the plot that are revealed only near the end of the movie. The convolutions did entertain me, and I got much more enjoyment out of trying to figure out the plot than with gunshots and car chases. However, I prefer "Murder, She Wrote," "Columbo," and "Sherlock Holmes" to movies with nearly all action and no intelligence in their plot. When you watch this movie, you do have to pay attention or you will lose direction, and you will see more plot holes than there actually are. I thought nearly everything was explained as the movie progressed, and the only plot holes were mistakes by those involved in the kidnapping of Megan. There were four standout actors in this film. Morgan Freeman is excellent, as usual, as Alex Cross. Michael Wincott is quite convincing as the marginally sane Gary Soneji. Monica Potter brings a good balance of strength and vulnerability to her role as Secret Service Agent Jezzie Flanagan. The real surprise performance is by Mika Boreem as Megan Rose. Megan tries very hard to get away throughout the movie, and uses her head continuously, incidentally saving her own life. Mika's performance is better than many of the adult actors in this film, and bodes well for a future career in acting. It could just be that I'm getting older, and car chases and flying bullets just are not as enjoyable as they once were. Or it could be that I just liked the intellectual challenge of unraveling the threads of the complicated plot. In any case, this movie is clearly not for everyone, but I would love to watch it again.
Rating: 
Summary: If you read the book, leave this alone
Review: I love James Patterson novels with all my heart, but this movie is the epitome of why you should never see a movie based on a book. The book was awesome, tense, and a definate page turner. The movie, is in one word, CRAP. The ending was so completely different that the fact that they screwed up the entire plot line is ALMOST pointless to mention.
First of all, in the book, Gary Soneji kidnapped TWO children, not one, and after they left that out the rest of the movie is irrelavent. If you liked this movie, but haven't read the book, go read it, please. You will see that some books just cannot be scripted for the big screen. Secondly, I also read that they are coming out with a movie for "Roses Are Red" and that this too, will differ from the book in several ways, so I will not even bother with it. (Go to www.jamespatterson.com and read the interview on there for yourself) I own EVERY single James Patterson book on the market and I have to say that I couldn't have been more disappointed in this movie no matter what they tried to do with it... If you have read the book, this one is a MUST PASS!
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