A bad-ass cop finds redemption in what he is doing when he tries to clean up the streets and do the right thing. Tyler Perry plays the main character of Alex Cross. Nothing is simply black and white in the world of Detective Cross. There is a lot of gray. For example, he goes to visit a young woman in prison who he knows did not kill the person she was charged with murdering. They both know it was her uncle that is the real killer. But the young woman does the time for her uncle, for a crime she did not commit, because it is the valiant thing to do.
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The wife of Cross is pregnant with their third child. Cross is offered a better job in Washington, D.C. which he wants to take but he knows this will disturb his wife. At the same time, a skinny guy (played by Matthew Fox) enters the underground fighting world. He puts a ten thousand dollar cash bet on himself so they cannot refuse him. It surprises everyone, including the female fight promoter Fan Yau (played by Stephanie Jacobsen) when he easily wins against a much bigger opponent. The woman invites him to her place, giving him the advantage. He tortures her, cuts off all her fingers and steals all the contact information about her criminal organization. He uses a drug that keeps his victims fully awake but immobilized while he tortures them to extract any information he desires.
Cross investigates the crime scene and gives the killer the nickname of "Picasso" because of a drawing that the killer left behind which also gives Cross a clue about the next victim. Cross figures out who Picasso is targeting but then he also becomes a victim. Picasso is one step ahead of him. As Cross gets closer to figuring out what is happening, Picasso takes out the wife of Cross, demonstrating how powerful he is. Cross's wife Marissa dies from a gunshot in the arms of Cross.
Cross thinks Picasso has been hired to take out the billionaire, Giles Mercier (played by Jean Reno) but it turns out that Picasso has been hired to eliminate all the rivals of the billionaire and to help fake the billionaire's death by killing his body double. Cross defeats Picasso and gets the billionaire arrested for smuggling when he is trying to escape to Indonesia.
Best part of story, including ending:
The explanation of why the contract killer is so ruthless starts to make sense as the story progresses.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene where Cross tries to convince the young black woman in jail, who is taking the fall for her uncle, that she could make a different choice. Cross seems to really care for her which is touching since they are both on different sides of the law.
Opinion about the main character:
Cross has no choice but to defend himself from the attack of a relentless killer. Even though Cross faces major setbacks, it is admirable that he does not give up and continues to fight to the end.
