Prime Video’s adaptation of James Patterson’s novels falls short : NPR

Alex Cross has all the time been a formidable determine in crime fiction.

Because the star of James Patterson’s profitable novels, he is a brilliant sharp mind with a Ph. D. in psychology who additionally occurs to be a Black police detective. And, for the brand new Prime Video sequence Cross, he is an unapologetically Black man, totally able to utilizing assumptions the world makes about him – and his race – to catch the dangerous guys.

That notion surfaces early within the sequence, with star Aldis Hodge enjoying Cross as a assured, calculating determine – inserting his crotch uncomfortably near the face of a racist, white homicide suspect throughout an interrogation to play on assumptions about Black, um, manhood.

It is a daring transfer that demonstrates Cross’ talent at utilizing his mind and psychological coaching to win the day – which is, sadly, undercut by the scene’s unsatisfying decision, when the detective concludes that the suspect confessed by saying a delicate literary reference. (Good luck making that one fly in court docket).

That is an unlucky sample that hobbles Cross; nice character work undone by horrible plotting or ham-handed writing.

A superhero detective

Hodge, who performed Hawkman within the 2022 movie Black Adam, nonetheless seems one thing like a superhero as Cross — amping up the physicality for a personality who appears buffer than earlier iterations performed by Tyler Perry and Morgan Freeman.

Constructed like a weightlifter, this Alex Cross stays in form by boxing, however solves crimes principally together with his thoughts, hardly ever forgetting that he is a Black man working in a system which frequently underestimates or misrepresents him.

Isaiah Mustafa as John Sampson and Aldis Hodge as his companion, Alex Cross.

Keri Anderson/Prime Video

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Keri Anderson/Prime Video

The present additionally leans into Black tradition, exhibiting Cross navigating totally different worlds of his Washington, D.C., hometown – profiling at a swanky fundraiser one second and quizzing suspects in a troublesome neighborhood the subsequent – whereas digging into the suspicious dying of a younger Black activist with a checkered previous.

There’s a lot that works right here, from casting Hodge – who has appeared on the verge of main stardom for years – to giving him an important sidekick in Isaiah Mustafa, who performs his companion, John. Sure, the dude who was the Outdated Spice man has nice chemistry with Hodge, urging Cross to raised deal with the emotional fallout stemming from his spouse’s unsolved homicide.

The sequence additionally leans into the most important conundrum dealing with Black law enforcement officials on TV nowadays: an absence of belief among the many Black individuals they hope to assist. When the sister of the murdered activist shouts names of real-life Black individuals killed by police at Cross and his companion whereas they query her – implying that her brother might need been murdered by officers, too – they do not have a lot of a reply in addition to, “belief us.”

Nice characters trapped by clunky writing

Sadly, this sequence undercuts its nice characters by stranding them in a twisty plot a few serial killer that simply does not come collectively. And since Cross has so many genuine touches, it makes the outlandishness of its core mysteries even much less palatable.

The present additionally does not do an important job explaining why a psychologist as sharp as Cross spends a lot vitality working for an establishment that does not respect him and does not appear nice at serving the neighborhood he loves.

Cross tells his girlfriend about battling a “hero advanced”-style compulsion to avoid wasting individuals, which does not actually resolve the query. This is a matter I’ve seen in different regulation enforcement TV reveals with distinguished Black characters, like Legislation & Order and S.W.A.T. – the wrestle to clarify why Black individuals keep on the power at a time when police brutality towards people who appear to be them is so distinguished.

I had hoped Prime Video’s sequence would provide a greater incarnation of the character from James Patterson’s bestselling novels than we have seen earlier than. (For my cash, Freeman’s glorious work as Cross within the middling 1997 movie Kiss the Women stays the gold customary).

As an alternative, we obtained a promising imaginative and prescient undone by scripts that simply did not know what to do with the compelling characters they created.