Alex Cross
This is a crime thriller films that was produced in 2012. The film was directed by Rob Cohen, exposing some of the evils that happen in the society. After securing a job with FBI, Cross fears revealing to his wife the intentions of changing cities. Unknown to him, the day he takes Maria for an outing happens to be the day Picasso was attacking them, marking an end to Maria’s life. This results in Alex Cross plotting a revenge mission with the aim of killing Picasso. Through several events that take place, Cross and his friends manage to kill Picasso, securing a number of individuals who were, in fact, in dire danger. It is after this revenge that Cross decides to accept the FBI job and moves to his new city with his mother and two kids (Patterson et al. 2009).
In producing the film, the director addressed several themes. Revenge is one of the themes that consistently in the scenes of the film. When Picasso fights in the underground-fighting-match that he emerges the winner, he gets access to Fan Yau’s house. At first, it is clear that he is only interested in making love to her. However, this turns out to be a different affair as he ends up sedating, torturing and killing her mercilessly. It is unclear what his intentions were although we are made to understand that he cut her fingers off and stole her laptop. It is at this time that the detectives decide to hire Cross’s services in investigating the matter.
After analyzing the available evidence in the crime scene, Cross deduces that Picasso was behind the inhuman actions (Patterson et al. 2009). Because he gets to understand who Picasso’s next targets were, Cross manages to rally his troops to protect them. Unknown to Cross, the incident only motivated Picasso to kill Maria. At this point, Picasso plots several acts of revenge against Cross for preventing him from killing Nunemarcher. First, he plots and kills Ashe in her bathroom before sending a picture of her corpse to Cross. Picasso is ready to kill Cross when he realizes that Maria was next to him. He changes his targets and shoots Maria down, effectively killing her. Because of such events, Cross works hard to ensure he avenges his wife’s murder by killing Picasso. Together with Kane, Cross manages to trace Picasso in the empty theater hall and kills him. In general terms, the director seems to have towards revenge the perception that all evil deeds ought to be avenged. Picasso’s wrong deeds were rewarded by him being killed by Cross.
The production of this movie results from the great work the director invested in ensuring quality work is achieved. Throughout the film, the producers give the viewers the notion that every scene is accompanied by the right tone and music to enable them to relate the action with the sound effects. Scene development is done in such a great manner that every scene directly impacts what the next scene is all about. This is crucial in films as it ensures that viewers do not notice the differences in acting.
One of the areas that the film scores well is about its sound. Editing of motion and sound is done in such a manner that the two naturally accompany each other flawlessly. With the appropriate light to match the scene settings, the director ensured that the audience matches what they see with what they hear. Camera movement always plays a crucial role in ensuring motion is appreciated (Murch, 2009). In essence, this is what determines the viewer’s perception towards the film’s actions.
In producing this film, the director mixed both color and black and white. This technique is crucial in ensuring that scenes best match the events being described in the movie (Lumet, 1995). Black and white is in most cases used by directors to connote aspects of flashback and flash-forwarding. In essence, this is commonly employed in scenes that do not reflect the current actions in the film’s scene succession. The fact that the director can manipulate sound to match with the relevant scenes is also a plus for the film as this attracts the attention of the viewers.
In Alex Cross, the director has managed to employ various techniques to create a new meaning of the visuals. One such technique that works excellently is by carefully selecting individual characters’ sound patterns. Cross, the main actor, for instance, is the hugest character in the film. The director associates him with the deepest voice. Although not always the rule, big characters in art are given deeper voices as compared to the rest of the actors. Picasso is not gigantic, the director decides to assign him an appropriate sound to match his body. This technique is essential as it brings about balance in the film, making it more acceptable when compared to the others.
Although the film is not great, it scores well in the rating. The director manages to address key issues in film production such as sound and visuals. Although the flow is a bit flawed, the film can be said to be above average.
References
Lumet, S. (1995). Making movies. New York: A.A. Knopf.
Murch, W. (2001). In the blink of an eye: A perspective on film editing. Los Angeles: Silman-James Press.
Patterson, J., Cain, T., Cerveris, M., & Hachette Audio (Firm). (2009). I, Alex Cross. New York, N.Y.: Hachette Audio.
