Sometimes, if abject ridiculousness is done with a straight face, it can almost work. The actor's ability to project serious intent in the most absurd situations is given a real workout here.
Freeman never appears to break a sweat.
Which most leading men would, if only from embarrassment for being associated with such cheesy, unbelievable plot twists as this film relies on. But like the previous film, it keeps too much of Patterson's illogical reversals while diminishing the character detail to near invisibility. Development of Cross has been the writer's true strength. A prologue explains that Cross' female partner is killed in a bungled police sting, but that's just there to give him a load of regret like every hero of the past 200 bad-cop movies. Then we're asked to buy a real whopper.