In my latest review for Crime Fiction Lover, I move from Chandler to the ubiquitous James Patterson. I would list all the ways I was underwhlemed and disappointed by Kill Alex Cross, but you can read all about that in the review.
In October, Alex Cross will make his return to the big screen. Cross was previously played by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001). Middling films, but not for lack of a talented star. Idris Elba was initially slated to star in the new film, I, Alex Cross. But the film’s title and star have been changed. So mark your calendars, October will bring you Alex Cross starring…Tyler Perry?
Yes, sportsfans. I don’t mean to knock Tyler Perry. He may be much more talented than he has shown heretofore, and he may make a credible action hero. But there is no way in all blue blazes he will be better than Idris Elba would have been. (Unless the Alex Cross movie is as awful as Kill Alex Cross, in which case Tyler Perry is welcome to have it.)
I think Idris Elba is overdue for leading man roles on the big screen. And no, funny-hatted intergalactic gatekeeper in Thor is not what I had in mind. I’m talking about James Bond, or something comparable. If the world is ready for a black Batman, I think he would do Bruce and Bats very well.
Given my reservations about Patterson’s thrillers, it may be just as well that Elba won’t be starring in Alex Cross. But certainly Luther (or The Wire, or Ultraviolet—yeah, go check that one out) has proved he should be starring in something.
