Amazon Prime Video seems to be starting a habit of taking not super successful movies based on books into a television series. It worked out well with Reacher so why not? This time around, Amazon Prime Video set their sights on the James Patterson series of novels featuring Detective Alex Cross. While you may be somewhat familiar with the Alex Cross film starring Tyler Perry, you may have forgotten the other two Alex Cross movies, Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, which had Morgan Freeman donning the shoes of the detective.

So, does this new Amazon Prime Video series going to be like Reacher and be a big reason to get the subscription service? Or are the movies with Tyler Perry and Morgan Freeman enough? All I can give are my two cents on what I think of the new Cross television thriller series.

But before I get into the review proper, this will be a SPOILER FREE review. This is still a relatively new release on Amazon Prime Video so some subscribers may not have seen the entire eight episodes yet. So, yeah. SPOILER FREE review!

Anyway, the show focuses on Alex Cross, a famed DC homicide detective assigned to a case which the former detective deemed an accidental drug overdose. However, Cross notices some discrepancies and figures out it was actually a murder made to look like an accident death as the victim was a noted activist against the police. While Alex Cross continues his investigation, his private life is also turned upside down when an unknown person starts stalking him and his family.

As you can see, there are two cases that are the focus of the eight episode series and I wish there was just one. I say this because the stalker case just isn’t as interesting and I would think devoting all of the episodes to Alex Cross trying to solve the murder and the conspiracy surrounding it was much more interesting. The show does reveal who it is and what that person’s motivations are and the show does a really interesting take on it. Sadly, when we’re pulled back to the stalker case, I can’t help but want the show to go back to the murder investigation.

Having two cases also leads to one of the show’s other big weakness: pacing issues with the later episodes. The first six episodes does take its time balancing out Alex Cross’ personal life, the murder investigation and the vast conspiracy as well as him trying to figure out who’s attacking his family. This is paced out well so far.

But, by this time, I have a feeling the writers realized they only had two episodes left to clear up how Alex Cross will solve the murder as well as figure out who the stalker is. So, they cram the last two episodes with absurd twists and some dumb cliches. It makes the conclusions come off as very rushed as they had to cram all of their ideas into those two episodes. Before this, everything was pretty serious and realistic enough to buy into the world. It just seems like they dumped out all the previous logic they’ve established and just copied every detective thriller cliche out there into these two episodes.

I guess this is also the fault of the producers decision to not go with any of the actual Alex Cross books for the basis of the season. I don’t get why they went with this direction as there are dozens and dozens of books James Patterson wrote featuring the character. Also, why didn’t they learn their lesson with the Tyler Perry Alex Cross film and do what the much more successful Morgan Freeman starred Alex Cross films do, which is just get a book and make a movie/television adaption of it?

I will say how Alex Cross comes up with his conclusions are well done. They’re done so you can still follow and put it together yourself while Alex Cross is putting it together himself. That’s partially due to Aldis Hodge, who plays the titular character, in a very thoughtful manner. He’s a very likable family man but is still a tortured soul and Aldis Hodge’s performance keeps me rooting for him.

I also have to commend Isaiah Mustafa, who plays “Two John” Sampson, Cross’ partner and childhood friend. Isaiah Mustafa does give a really strong performance and, weirdly enough, is the voice of reason at times, even if Cross won’t listen to him. His chemistry with Aldis Hodge is also really good, so it helps me buy in the idea they’ve been friends for a long time. The rest of the cast is also pretty good, such as Johnny Ray Gill, who plays the psychotic ex-cop turned freelancer Bobby Trey, Alona Tal as FBI Agent Kayla Craig and especially Ryan Eggold, who plays Ed Ramsey, a rich philanthropist who may be hiding a secret or two.

In retrospect, I do feel a good reason why I stuck with Cross and finished it was because of the performances as I really enjoyed the characters they brought to life. While I was interested in how Cross would figure out who the murderer was, what really drew me in were the characters. Like I said, the entire stalker case was something I wish was taken out in order to delve more on Alex Cross trying to figure out the conspiracy while still going along with Cross during his personal life.

As Amazon Prime Video already announced Cross will be getting a second season, I do hope they just concentrate on putting together one very interesting mystery while allowing some time to look into Alex Cross’ life. Still, I do think the first season is worth seeing if you don’t mind wading through some a secondary uninteresting case and you can stomach some stupid cliched writing near the end.

Have you seen Cross? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!