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We’ll give the man credit for trying to break out into a different role, but Tyler’s performance proved to be a disappointment. According to The Hollywood Reporter : You almost feel sorry for Tyler Perry, stepping out of his own universe for the first time to try to expand his range and finding himself in something as thoroughly dismal as Alex Cross. An unpleasant film from the sadistic behavior of its loathsome villain to the grubbiness of its visual palette, this stands as a substandard attempt to bring novelist James Patterson’s intuitive cop back to the big screen. All the same, it will be interesting to observe if much of Perry’s generally loyal audience turns out to see him in a major change of pace, as well as if nonfans are curious to check him as a potential action hero. Whatever the opening is, legs are doubtful. Among other things, Alex Cross features a mano-a-mano climax that is a strong contender for the title of worst major fight scene ever to grace a major motion picture. The lighting is dark, it’s framed so tightly you can’t tell who’s hitting whom or what’s going on, and the camera’s intense jitters make it a virtual parody of filmmakers trying to make something exciting by shaking the camera. It’s incredible one of the six producers didn’t notice this and demand a retake. Not directly based on any single one of Patterson’s novels about the brilliant investigator and forensic psychologist but credited nonetheless as an adaptation of Cross, the script by Mark Moss and Kerry Williamson takes the man back to his pre-Washington and FBI days, when he was a cop on the Detroit police force (though some might notice that, for financial reasons, the film was shot largely in Cleveland). This repositioning suits the fact that Perry is about 20 years younger than Morgan Freeman was when he played the role in Kiss the Girls in 1997 and Along Came a Spider four years later. Towering over the other actors (he’s 6-foot-5), Perry lumbers around with a degree of charisma but a lack of emotional range or variety in line delivery. Although watchable and certainly different from the usual run of leading men, he’s not really all that interesting in this character. Fox is plenty convincing as the cretin without the merest morsel of humanity, while the other actors just cash their paychecks, notably Jean Reno as a French industrialist with an unexplained penchant for turning the city of Detroit around. Have you seen ‘Alex Cross’ yet? Do you want to? Images via WENN/youtube

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Tyler Perry Can’t Shake That Madea Stigma Off As Reviews Come In For ‘Alex Cross’