Along Came a Spider ( film ) - wikipedia Along Came a Spider ( film ) For other uses of this title, see Along Came a Spider ( disambiguation ). Along Came a Spider Theatrical release poster Directed by Lee Tamahori Produced by David Brown Joe Wizan Screenplay by Marc Moss Based on Along Came a Spider by James Patterson Starring Morgan Freeman Monica Potter Michael Wincott Penelope Ann Miller Michael Moriarty Music by Jerry Goldsmith Cinematography Matthew F. Leonetti Edited by Neil Travis Production company Phase 1 Productions Revelations Entertainment Distributed by Paramount Pictures Release date April 6, 2001 ( 2001 - 04 - 06 ) Running time 103 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $60 million Box office $105.2 million Along Came a Spider is a 2001 American neo noir psychological thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori. It is the second installment of Alex Cross film series and a sequel to the 1997 film Kiss the Girls, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as detective Alex Cross. The screenplay by Marc Moss was adapted from the 1993 novel of the same title by James Patterson, but many of the key plot elements of the book were controversially eliminated. The movie received negative to mixed critical reviews, although it became a box office success. Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Writing 4 Reception 4.1 Box office 4.2 Critical reception 4.3 Awards and nominations 5 Series reboot 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Plot summary After Washington, D.C. detective, forensic psychologist and author Alex Cross ( Morgan Freeman ) loses control of a sting operation, resulting in the death of his partner, he opts to retire from the force. He finds himself drawn back to police work when Megan Rose ( Mika Boorem ), the daughter of a United States senator, is kidnapped from her exclusive private school by computer science teacher Gary Soneji ( Michael Wincott ). US Secret Service Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan ( Monica Potter ), held responsible for the breach in security, joins forces with Cross to find the missing girl. Soneji contacts Cross by phone and alerts him to the fact one of Megan 's sneakers is in the detective 's mailbox, proving Soneji is the kidnapper. Cross deduces the man is obsessed with the 1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping and hopes to become as infamous as Bruno Hauptmann by committing a new `` Crime of the Century '' which might be discussed by Cross in one of his true crime books. Megan 's kidnapping proves to be only part of Soneji 's real plan : to kidnap Dimitri Starodubov ( Anton Yelchin ), the son of the Russian president, guaranteeing himself greater infamy. After Cross and Flannigan foil his second kidnapping plot, a supposed call from the kidnapper demands Cross deliver a ransom of $10 million in diamonds by following an intricate maze of calls made to public phone booths scattered throughout the city. Cross ultimately tosses the gems out the window of a rapidly moving Metro train to a figure standing by the tracks. Soneji later arrives at Flannigan 's home and confronts Cross after disabling Flannigan with a taser, the detective realizes the kidnapper is unaware of the ransom demand and delivery. Soneji tries to leave with Flannigan, but Cross kills him. Cross becomes suspicious and realizes someone discovered Soneji long before his plot came to fruition. After searching Flannigan 's personal computer, he finds enough evidence to prove Flannigan and her fellow Secret Service agent Ben Devine ( Billy Burke ) used Soneji as a pawn in their own plot. He tracks them down to a secluded farmhouse where Flannigan has murdered Devine and is now intent on eliminating Megan Rose. Cross saves Megan and shoots Flannigan in the heart, killing her. Afterwards, Cross takes Megan back to her parents. Cast Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross Monica Potter as Jezzie Flannigan Michael Wincott as Gary Soneji / The Spider Dylan Baker as Ollie McArthur Mika Boorem as Megan Rose Billy Burke as Ben Devine Anton Yelchin as Dimitri Starodubov Jay O. Sanders as Kyle Craig Michael Moriarty as Senator Hank Rose Penelope Ann Miller as Elizabeth Rose Anna Maria Horsford as Vickie Production Writing One of the primary elements of the book screenwriter Marc Moss eliminated from his script was the fact that Soneji is actually a mild - mannered suburban husband and father suffering from dissociative identity disorder resulting from having been abused as a child. After a lengthy trial for kidnapping and several murders not included in the film, he is found guilty but remanded to a mental institution to serve his sentence. Also missing from the film is a romantic relationship shared by Cross and Jezzie, her trial and eventual execution by lethal injection, and the discovery of Megan ( Maggie as she is known in the book ), hidden away with a native Bolivian family near the Andes Mountains, two years after her kidnapping. A few other minor differences from the original book include : Dimitri ( Michael `` Shrimpie '' Goldberg as referred to in the book ) being kidnapped at the same time as Megan ( Maggie ) ; Megan 's ( Maggie 's ) mother was the more famous of her parents, being a popular actress ; when the children are kidnapped they are sprayed with chloroform spray. Reception Box office Box office receipts totaled US $ 105,178,561, of which $74,078,174 was from the United States having earned US $16,712,407 in its opening weekend at 2,530 theaters. Critical reception The film received mixed to negative reviews and has a `` rotten '' rating of 32 % on Rotten Tomatoes. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called the film an `` overplotted, hollow thriller, which crams in so much exposition that characters speak in fetid hunks for what seems like minutes at a time... But Spider could n't be better served than it is by Mr. Freeman, whose prickly smarts and silken impatience bring believability to a classless, underdeveloped thriller... Still, he is wasted in this impersonal, almost inept thriller. '' Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun - Times gave the film a mixed 2 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote : `` A few loopholes I can forgive. But when a plot is riddled with them, crippled by them, made implausible by them, as in Along Came a Spider, I get distracted. I 'm wondering, since Dr. Alex Cross is so brilliant, how come he does n't notice yawning logical holes in the very fabric of the story he 's occupying ?... The film contains two kinds of loopholes : ( 1 ) Those that emerge when you think back on the plot, and ( 2 ) Those that seem like loopholes at the time, and then are explained by later developments that may contain loopholes of their own... There are places in this movie you just ca n't get to from other places in this movie. '' Nonetheless, Ebert thought that Freeman 's performance made Cross an intriguing character, even when the plot was verging on the nonsensical. Robert Koehler of Variety felt `` the very characteristics that have made Cross so appealing, particularly his mind - tickling abilities to assess and outmaneuver his criminal opponents, are reduced here to the most fundamental and predictable level... As reliable as any actor in Hollywood, Freeman delivers the requisite gravitas, but the bland script curtails any personal touches he might have inserted were his sleuth character unraveling a truly vexing mystery. '' However, critic Harvey O'Brian weighed in with the sentiment that `` Unlike, for example, the overblown kidnap movie Ransom, Along Came a Spider plays down its sensational elements. It favours the procedural aspects of Cross ' investigation which, though infected with the usual ' Eureka ' factor of brilliant discoveries by the leading man at regular intervals just when it looked like he was stumped, are largely delivered with sincerity. Freeman has such a strong grip on this kind of determined, middle aged, everyman character by now that he can easily take the audience along for the ride. The film itself is otherwise sincere in general, with no real attempt at smarmy black humour or winks to the audience. It draws you in to a ( relatively ) realistic depiction of a tense situation in which people behave less like action heroes and more like human beings. '' Compuserve 's Harvey Karten argued, `` Some critics will tell you that despite Lee Tamahori 's overplotting of Marc Moss 's adaptation of James Patterson 's novel, Along Came a Spider is one of those thrillers that allow you to check your brains at the door. Not true. Did the journalists all go for popcorn when Detective Alex Cross and Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan ( nice spelling ) engaged first in a discussion of psychology and then of philosophy ? This may have been Phil 101, but imagine the interest that must have been aroused in the audience with a product placement for university education. Says Cross in discussing what makes us choose our careers : ' You do what you are. ' ' Not so, ' replies Jezzie, every hair in place, not one gram of makeup disturbed, despite the excitement of the discussion... ' You are what you do. ' '' Awards and nominations Jerry Goldsmith won the BMI Film & TV Award for his original score, and Morgan Freeman was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture but lost to Denzel Washington for Training Day. Series reboot Main article : Alex Cross ( film ) There were no further sequels, but the character of Alex Cross was rebooted with a 2012 film adaptation of the novel Cross under the title Alex Cross starring Tyler Perry in the titular role. See also List of American films of 2001 References Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=alongcameaspider.htm Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=alongcameaspider.htm Jump up ^ `` Along Came a Spider ''. Box Office Mojo. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 20 September 2012. Jump up ^ `` Along Came a Spider ( 2001 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes by Flixster. Flixster, Inc. 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012. Jump up ^ Elvis Mitchell ( 6 April 2001 ). `` FILM REVIEW ; Weaving an Intricate Web To Trap a Wily Kidnapper ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 20 September 2012. Jump up ^ Roger Ebert ( 6 April 2001 ). `` Along Came A Spider ''. rogerebert.com. rogerebert.com. Retrieved 20 September 2012. Jump up ^ Robert Koehler ( 31 March 2001 ). `` Along Came a Spider ''. Variety. Reed Elsevier Inc. Retrieved 20 September 2012. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ ( 2 ) External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Along Came a Spider ( film ) Official website Along Came a Spider on IMDb Along Came a Spider at AllMovie Along Came a Spider at Box Office Mojo Along Came a Spider at Rotten Tomatoes James Patterson Bibliography Alex Cross series Characters Alex Cross Kyle Craig John Sampson Books Along Came a Spider Kiss the Girls Jack & Jill Cat and Mouse Pop Goes the Weasel Roses Are Red Violets Are Blue Four Blind Mice The Big Bad Wolf London Bridges Mary, Mary Cross Double Cross Cross Country Alex Cross 's Trial I, Alex Cross Cross Fire Kill Alex Cross Merry Christmas, Alex Cross Alex Cross, Run Cross My Heart Hope to Die Cross Justice Cross the Line The People vs. Alex Cross Films Kiss the Girls ( 1997 ) Along Came a Spider ( 2001 ) Alex Cross ( 2012 ) Daniel X series The Dangerous Days of Daniel X Watch the Skies Demons and Druids Game Over Armageddon Lights Out Maximum Ride series List of characters The Angel Experiment School 's Out -- Forever Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports The Final Warning Max Fang Angel Nevermore Maximum Ride Forever Michael Bennett series Step on a Crack Run for Your Life Worst Case Tick Tock I, Michael Bennett Gone Burn Alert Bullseye Treasure Hunters series Treasure Hunters Danger Down the Nile Secret of the Forbidden City Peril at the Top of the World Witch & Wizard series Witch & Wizard The Gift The Fire The Kiss The Lost Women 's Murder Club series 1st to Die 2nd Chance 3rd Degree 4th of July The 5th Horseman The 6th Target 7th Heaven The 8th Confession The 9th Judgment 10th Anniversary 11th Hour 12th of Never Unlucky 13 14th Deadly Sin 15th Affair 16th Seduction 17th Suspect Other novels Black Friday When the Wind Blows Hide and Seek Suzanne 's Diary for Nicholas The Jester The Lake House Sam 's Letters to Jennifer Judge and Jury The Quickie The Postcard Killers The President Is Missing Sundays at Tiffany 's Sail Toys Zoo Non-fiction Against Medical Advice Films directed by Lee Tamahori Once Were Warriors ( 1994 ) Mulholland Falls ( 1996 ) The Edge ( 1997 ) Along Came a Spider ( 2001 ) Die Another Day ( 2002 ) XXX : State of the Union ( 2005 ) Next ( 2007 ) The Devil 's Double ( 2011 ) Mahana ( 2016 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Along_Came_a_Spider_(film)&oldid=835897283 '' Categories : 2001 films English - language films 2000s crime thriller films 2000s psychological thriller films American crime thriller films American films American sequel films American thriller drama films Police detective films Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Baltimore Films shot in Maryland Films based on American novels Films based on crime novels Films about abduction Paramount Pictures films Films shot in Vancouver Films directed by Lee Tamahori Films produced by David Brown Films based on works by James Patterson Lindbergh kidnapping Hidden categories : Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Čeština Deutsch Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Français Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska ไทย 中文 6 more Edit links This page was last edited on 11 April 2018, at 12 : 47. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who is the killer in along came a spider
Answer: Flannigan