Amazon Prime is on a roll when it comes to thriller series. After Jack Reacher and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, the third iconic US thriller hero is being turned into a series: the black psychologist Alex Cross, who is otherwise played by Morgan Freeman, becomes a young, dynamic hero who prefers to run into walls.
What’s going on at Amazon? The third thriller series has now been released on Amazon, in which the focus is on a particularly male, particularly American hero. All of these characters are originally heroes of novels who are known from the cinema:
“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” started in 2018 – John Krasinski plays the analyst who becomes a CIA agent for three seasons. Jack Ryan is the “archetype” of how a conservative American imagines a superhero saving the USA “in real life”. In the cinema, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck played versions of Jack Ryan. Chris Pine did it most recently.
Things got off to a much rougher start in the series “Reacher” from 2022: Jack Reacher is a huge ex-soldier who everyone asks about what kind of animal he is. Reacher is the modern version of a classic western hero who rides into a strange city on a bus, takes a quick look around and ensures justice. There are explosions and the bad guys have to swallow lead while the hero methodically solves the case. In the cinema, Tom Cruise, who was actually far too skinny, played the role.
The series “Alex Cross” has now started on Amazon Prime. This is also an iconic American thriller hero: the black psychologist gets into the heads of serial killers, surpasses them at their own game and hunts them down. From the cinema we know a much older Alex Cross, who has already settled down and is played by Morgan Freeman. The Alex Cross on Amazon is significantly younger: Aldis Hodge is 38 years old, 49 years younger than Morgan Freeman.
Cross – Trailer for the new crime series on Amazon
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The new Amazon series about Alex Cross impresses with strong supporting characters
Is the new Alex Cross series worth it? Yes, Alex Cross is a nice series that you can watch in 2 or 3 days. Although the series suffers from some typical thriller clichés, it’s fun to follow the characters and puzzle out who the killers are and which character is playing the wrong game.
The supporting characters in particular are beautifully cast and drawn: Alex Cross himself is a hero plagued by traumatic events who is always right, but no one ever believes him.
He has a childhood friend and colleague who always sticks by him, but pushes Cross away so often that even he is starting to get fed up.
There is also an arrogant police chief who would rather be mayor, a pregnant superior, scheming and bickering colleagues and a mysterious FBI agent who is a little too helpful and loves flirting too much to be trusted.
When Cross comes home, he has a family that you immediately take to your heart – including a proud girlfriend who loves him fiercely despite everything and an ultra-competent grandmother.
The attitude to life that Cross exudes is beautiful: the man treats himself, has a Mustang, loves good Pappy van Winkle whiskey and the chili cheeseburger in his favorite diner.
Alex Cross impresses as a brilliant killer who actually has good ideas
This is the special appeal of the series:
The highlight of Alex Cross is the psychopathic villains that the psychologist has to deal with. That’s a whole bunch of people who are fun to hate:
The series varies in tone. At some points Alex Cross takes himself terribly seriously and almost bathes in the psychological terror that the characters are exposed to. But then a cool rap soundtrack hits a classic action scene.
Alex Cross’s sidekick in particular has some really good scenes that put you in a good mood and cleverly play with the idea that an alpha male has to play second fiddle to his childhood friend for 30 years, who is always right about everything. That would probably annoy anyone over time.
The Serial Killer has some scenes that are reminiscent of “The Silence of the Lambs” in the best moments. He manages to have really clever ideas that are worthy of a psychopathic killer genius.
Overall, Alex Cross is a nice series to binge and it’s fun to guess who the killer is and what’s going on in his sick head. Just like with Reacher: Amazon broke an important rule of Reacher and got permission from the author of the story to do so