Along Came a Spider

Along Came a Spider is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Lee Tamahori. It is the second installment in the Alex Cross film series and a sequel to the 1997 film Kiss the Girls, with Morgan Freeman and Jay O. Sanders reprising their roles as detective Alex Cross and FBI-agent Kyle Craig. The screenplay by Marc Moss was adapted from the 1993 novel of the same title by James Patterson, but many of the key plot elements of the book were eliminated. The film was a box office success, although receiving mixed reviews from critics. Plot Alex Cross was a detective, forensic psychologist and author in Washington, D.C. for many years, but he recently retired from the force after a sting operation ended in the death of his partner. His departure is short-lived when Megan Rose, the daughter of a US senator, is kidnapped from her private school by Gary Soneji, a computer science teacher. US Secret Service Special Agent Jezzie Flannigan is held responsible for the breach in security that allowed Soneji to take the girl. In response, Alex Cross and Jezzie Flannigan join forces to track down Soneji and find Megan Rose. After Cross receives a phone call from Soneji, he is struck with horror and panic when he finds a small sneaker in his mailbox. Cross soon realizes that Soneji is trying to emulate the 1932 Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping, a crime so infamous that it became known as the Crime of the Century. With the knowledge that Soneji is trying to make a name for himself in the same way as Richard Hauptmann, Cross is even more determined to bring Soneji to justice and get Megan back safely, which he posits is a storyline worthy of one of his true crime books. Despite Soneji's now-public identity, the FBI is unable to capture him until Cross secretly tracks his calls and locations. Unbeknownst to Cross and Flannigan, Soneji's abduction of Megan is only a small part of his elaborate plan to secure greater fame. His coordinated kidnap plot is then revealed to center around the son of the President of Russia, Dimitri Starodubov. Soneji attempts to capture the young boy without absolute management from police and security guards.