Down the water spout: Along Came A Spider

This movie began like a thinly veiled CBS TV movie: Capable of holding your attention, but loaded with melodrama, shaky plot points and overall blahness. But then along came unexpected twists and the engaging performance of Morgan Freeman to weave a solid foundation under this criminal thriller. "Along Came A Spider" has enough unique and engaging elements to be well worth the admission price, especially given the loads of crap "just visiting" the theaters this week.\n"Spider" is a prequel to 1997's criminal-thriller "Kiss the Girls," but is a completely separate entity other than the main character, Detective Alex Cross (Freeman). The story is riddled with plot twists, most of which caught me completely by surprise. Cross, a seasoned criminal profiler, must track the bread-crumb trail left by a mastermind trying to duplicate the "crime of the century," the Charles Lindbergh caper. Along the way, Cross partners up with Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), an FBI special agent longing to correct her past mistakes.\nFreeman doesn't act spectacularly, but his hardened face and calm demeanor meld brilliantly to make a believable and strong Detective Cross. Potter, on the other hand, looks and acts like a carbon copy of Julia Roberts except with a blond wig. Flannigan is incredibly stale and flat, and her perfect hair and makeup would better suit a Loreal model than an experienced FBI officer. But her character beefs up as the film progresses. \nThe biggest surprise was the child actors' performance. Usually the chubby-cheeked pipsqueaks are sickening with their sweetness or annoying with their precocious antics. But Megan Rose (Mika Boorem) and her Russian friend, both children of prominent politicians and involved in the crime, are not only tolerable, they are actually interesting. These kids, who send secret text messages embedded in GIF computer files, are incredibly smart and likeable at the same time.\n"Along Came A Spider" might start slow like a predictable b-movie, but the film uses those expectations to catch viewers off-guard and snowballs into a fascinating detective story with a smart script.