Along Came a Spider

Along Came a Spider centres on Alex Cross, a Washington detective, psychologist and successful author who has withdrawn from police work after his partner's death. When a senator's young daughter is abducted from her private school, the kidnapper makes clear that he wants Cross personally on the case, drawing him back into investigation. Teamed with Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan, who had been assigned to protect the girl, Cross follows a trail of clues suggesting the abductor is after something beyond a ransom. Morgan Freeman plays Cross, a role he had taken on before; Monica Potter plays Flannigan, and Michael Wincott plays the kidnapper, Gary Soneji. Mika Boorem appears as the missing girl and Anton Yelchin as Dimitri Starodubov.

The film was directed by Lee Tamahori and written by Marc Moss, produced by David Brown and Joe Wizan. It was Tamahori's fourth feature, following Once Were Warriors, Mulholland Falls and The Edge, and it came before Die Another Day, xXx: State of the Union, Next, The Devil's Double and The Convert. It was made for about 60 million US dollars and took roughly 105 million worldwide, a modest return relative to its cost. Audiences rate it 6.4 out of 10 on IMDb from around 104,000 votes and 6.4 out of 10 on TMDB from over 2,000 votes. Film critics' reviews average 5.2 out of 10 across 125 reviews, lower than the audience scores.