Alex Cross Surprises, But Leaves One Plot Hole

Cast of Alex Cross: Matthew Fox, Tyler Perry, Rachel Nichols, Edward Burns

Alex Cross surprised me, as I assume it did most. 

We don’t see Tyler Perry much outside of the Madea movies, and that’s why movie goers were unsure if Tyler Perry could hold us in an action thriller, playing Alex Cross. Well he did.

Alex Cross was a pretty good movie, but had one plot hole (which I will get to in a minute).

Matthew Fox played the villain “Picasso” in this movie, and he did an excellent job. He trimmed down for this role, leaning down to all muscle, playing a sociopath ex-military killer that enjoys torturing people.

Picasso first enters a secret fight club, held in a former church building, and bets $10,000 on himself. He beats the opponent, while eyeing an Asian woman who is watching the event.

She takes him to her home, which is protected by armed guards. He sneaks his gun in because it is inside his shoe. He injects the Asian woman with a drug, and kills the guards. He then returns to torture her, so he can find out her computer password. He stayed at her residence long enough to draw a Picasso-like charcoal picture of her, and left it behind at the crime scene.

Alex Cross deduces that this is the work of one man, not a gang.

Let’s backtrack for a minute.

Actor Edward Burns plays Alex Cross’ best friend, Thomas Kane. It is revealed early on that Thomas Kane is having a physical relationship with a female member in the unit, Monica Ashe (played by Rachel Nichols). You may recognize her from her role as Scarlett in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Thomas is unsure that he is ready to tell Alex that he is in a relationship with Monica; however Alex is able to tell the moment that he picks Thomas up in his Suburban.

Picasso then breaks into a large corporation in downtown Detroit, as Alex, Thomas, and Monica are investigating a lead left behind by Picasso. The elegant waterfall water slows and then stops. The German guards are flabbergasted, since nothing like that has ever happened before. They weren’t going to let Alex or his team in the building, but this emergency prompts them to figure out what is going on.

Meanwhile, Picasso is traveling up the water pipe in a lean scuba outfit. He is trying to get to the CEO’s office. When the power goes down, Alex takes a shotgun and looks around for Picasso. Thomas and Monica guard the CEO, until he hits a panic button, slamming down a large steel door. Monica is shut out, and Thomas is trapped in the room with the CEO, who swears it can only be opened from the outside by security guards. Thomas threatens him, until he re-opens the door. Alex has another encounter with Picasso, catching him off guard. Picasso lays down his gun but ejects a mine from his belt.

It blows up, blasting Monica through a window onto a large conference table. Alex took cover under a conference desk.

Picasso gets away, and learns the identity of Alex, Thomas, and Monica.

Monica returns to her apartment. Picasso is waiting. He uses her phone to call Alex, who is eating out with his pregnant wife. Picasso says he is not impressed with Alex’s tie, which says he is watching Alex. Alex scrambles to protect his wife, who is seating outside, but it is too late. Picasso shoots her with a scoped rifle.

Stop here. Alex Cross takes a vengeance on Picasso from this point on.

But, one major hole now looms in the movie.

Monica is still missing.

The movie carries on. There is a funeral for Alex’s wife. They continue to follow leads, but there is not another mention of Monica over a period of days. For all we know, she is dead.

Alex Cross was better than I thought, but I couldn’t help but wonder why they never found Monica, or revealed that she was found and is okay. 

Excuse me, if anyone finds Monica tied up somewhere, please free her. Everyone seemed to forget that she was kidnapped. There's a good chance she won't be in the sequel, if they can't find her in the first movie.

Rachel Nichols playing Monica Ashe in Alex Cross

Looper Movie Plot Involves a Decision of Morality

Looper Movie Poster; IMDB.com

I rented Looper (2012) last night from Redbox. The story of the movie was not bad. I did not like the language. If you have a TV guardian - the foul language blocker - use it with this Rated R movie.

Looper is a movie that incorporates time travel in its story. And since this post has SPOILERS, do not continue reading if you don’t want the plot points of the movie to be revealed.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a character named Joe. He is what you call a “looper” because he does the dirty work for the mob of the future. They’ll want to get rid of a person, so they’ll send the person back in time 30 years to a location where a looper is waiting. The looper will then shoot the person with a blunderbuss shotgun, a short-range weapon that quickly kills a man.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt does not look like himself in this movie, due to obvious makeup adjustments to make his face look more like Bruce Willis playing his older self in the future.

In the future, time travel is banned, and only the rich and powerful mob has time-travel devices operated illegally. Since people are harder to kill in the future (due to more efficient identification processes), the mob sends a person back in time to 2044 to be taken out by a looper.

Part of the deal of being a looper, is that at some point the mob will decide to “close the loop.” When this happens, the looper in the future (which is 30 years older) is sent back with a bag over his head, and a large payday of gold bars instead of the typical silver. The looper usually won’t find out that he is closing the loop until after he tears open the victim’s covering to find gold bars. At that point, the looper can cash out and live out the next 30 years doing as he chooses.

One thing to point out is that some people have developed a telekinetic ability in 2044. Those with the powers are called TK’s. The extent of the majority of people is the ability to levitate quarters. That’s it.

The movie, Looper, is one that starts by following young Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and then at the point where old Joe (played by Bruce Willis) is sent back, then we follow old Joe for a little while.

Old Joe is kidnapped and sent back so his loop will be closed, but first he must watch his love die at the hands of the kidnappers. As he is being handcuffed, he breaks free but still goes back in time. He does not wear his head-sack, so that young Joe can see that it is himself from the future.

Old Joe goes back in time to eliminate the new Mob boss, known as the “Rainmaker.” If there is no Rain-maker, then his wife in the future will not be killed, and he will be able to live out his life with the person that saved him from a life of drugs.

Old Joe brings with him the date of birth of the Rainmaker, and the hospital ID #. He then narrows it down to 3 children, and is determined to kill them to avert future events.

Young Joe separates from Old Joe after they dispute about what they should do. Old Joe is determined to take out the Rainmaker as a child, so he can resume his happy life. Young Joe doesn’t care about his life in the future. He wants to just kill his old self, in hopes that he can regain his freedom back – the freedom that was stolen when Old Joe came back in time, and aluded Young Joe at the moment he was to be killed.

Young Joe steals the corner of the map from Old Joe which has the coordinates of one of the children. He goes there and wins over the heart of the mother. After a brief stay on her farm, he finds out that the mother can levitate a metal lighter, and that her child has powers that go beyond the typical TK. He is very powerful and can destroy people and large objects when he becomes angry.

Meanwhile Old Joe is taken back to the mob headquarters. He breaks free and kills everyone except for his sole captor, a 20’s grunt that only wanted to make the mob boss happy, because he is a father-figure to him.

Old Joe finds out that the Rainmaker is with Young Joe, because Young Joe witnesses the boy destroy a former mob friend, Jessie. Old Joe instantly gets this new memory as it takes place on the farm, and knows where the Rainmaker is.

Old Joe then goes to the farm to find the Rainmaker, and attempts to coax Young Joe to run away, because he still can.

However, there is a moral concept that arises in the movie to be discussed. If you could go back in time to kill a person that does bad things, would you?

Many people say they would go back in time and kill Hitler. While you may think this is noble, it truly makes you no better than Hitler. The concept in play is: The end does not justify the means.

No person should commit an evil or a wrong in order to bring about a righteous ending.

Think about it, and if you want to watch a video interviewing people with the question: “Would you go back in time to kill Hitler as a baby?” watch at this link.