Amazon Prime is on a roll when it comes to thriller series. Following Jack Reacher and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, the third iconic US thriller hero has been turned into a series: the black psychologist Alex Cross, usually played by Morgan Freeman, is transformed into a young, dynamic hero who prefers to run through walls.
What’s going on at Amazon? Amazon has now released the third thriller series focused on a particularly masculine, particularly American hero. All these characters originally come from novels that you know from the cinema:
It all started in 2018 with “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” – John Krasinski plays the analyst who becomes a CIA agent for three seasons. Jack Ryan is the “archetype” of how a conservative American envisions a superhero that saves the USA “in real life”. In the movies, Harrison Ford or Ben Affleck have portrayed versions of Jack Ryan. Most recently, Chris Pine took on the role.
The series “Reacher”, which started in 2022, took a much rougher approach: Jack Reacher is a hulking ex-soldier who is approached by everyone about what a beast he is. Reacher is the modern version of a classic Western hero who rides into a foreign town by bus, takes a quick look around, and ensures justice. There are explosions, and the bad guys have to swallow lead while the hero methodically unravels the case. In the films, the much too slight Tom Cruise played the role.
Now on Amazon Prime, the series “Alex Cross” has started. This is also an iconic American thriller hero: the black psychologist gets into the minds of serial killers, outsmarts them in their own game, and brings them down. In the movies, there is a much older Alex Cross, who is already settled down and played by Morgan Freeman. The Alex Cross on Amazon is significantly younger: Aldis Hodge is 38 years old, 49 years younger than Morgan Freeman.
The new Amazon series about Alex Cross impresses with strong supporting characters
Is the new series Alex Cross worth it? Yes, Alex Cross is a nice series that can be watched in 2 or 3 days. Although the series suffers from some typical thriller clichés, it is enjoyable to follow the characters and guess who the killers are and which character is playing a dirty game.
Especially the supporting characters are well cast and depicted: Alex Cross himself is a hero plagued by traumatic events, who is always right but is never believed by anyone.
He has a childhood friend and colleague who always stands by him, but whom Cross often pushes away so much that even he is slowly getting fed up.
Additionally, there is an arrogant police chief who would rather be mayor, a pregnant supervisor, scheming and bickering colleagues, and a mysterious FBI agent who is overly helpful and flirts too much to be trusted.
When Cross gets home, he has a family that you instantly fall in love with – including a proud girlfriend who loves him fiercely despite everything and an ultra-competent grandmother.
The life feel that Cross radiates is beautiful: the man treats himself well, has a Mustang, loves good Pappy-van-Winkle whiskey, and the chili cheeseburger in his favorite diner.
Alex Cross impresses with a brilliant killer who really has good ideas
This is the special charm of the series:
The highlight of Alex Cross, however, are the psychopathic villains that the psychologist deals with. There is a whole roster of people who are fun to hate:
- There is a psychopathic murderer millionaire with a sick fascination for serial killers
- Of course, he has ruthless helpers, like an ex-cop who takes way too much pleasure in torture and lurking
- But we also get to know a tormented soul who took a wrong turn in their life and then followed the wrong path for too long
The series wavers in tone. At some points, Alex Cross takes itself terribly seriously and practically bathes in the psychological terror that the characters are exposed to. But then a cool rap soundtrack kicks in during a classic action scene.
Especially Cross’s sidekick has some really good scenes that are entertaining and cleverly play with the idea that an alpha male has to play second fiddle for 30 years to his childhood friend who is always right. That would probably get on anyone’s nerves over time.
The serial killer has some scenes that at their best remind you of “The Silence of the Lambs”. At times, he has really clever ideas that are worthy of a psychopathic killer genius.
Overall, Alex Cross is a lovely series that you can binge-watch and it is fun to guess who the killer is and what is going on in their sick mind. Just like with Reacher: Amazon broke an important rule from Reacher, but got permission from the author of the story for it
