[yasr_overall_rating]
A serial killer thinks that he needs to kill suicidal people in order to save them.
The initial premise for “Cross” is one that I wish the filmmakers had stuck with. A religious man, whose wife took her own life while battling Leukemia, fears for her soul because like most Christians, they believe that committing suicide will condemn your soul to eternal damnation. He prays to God daily, asking him to spare her and while browsing the internet, trying to locate others who are in the same predicament, he stumbles across a forum in which people who are contemplating suicide, can go and talk with each other. Believing it to be a sin, he takes it upon himself to ‘help’ these people as many of them post the time and date they are intending their demise. If he kills them, he believes that he will be saving their souls.
This is a very intriguing plotline as his actions could be seen more as empathetic instead of the clichéd homicidal serial killer stories we encounter so often and could have made for a great case for both the prosecution and the defense to dispute but sadly, that aspect of the movie quickly fades away as the filmmakers make it their intent to try for an ending more akin to “The Usual Suspects” and granted, while that movie’s surprise finale had everybody shaking their heads in disbelief, here, it feels more like an aspiring filmmaker who has idolized that movie and will do absolutely anything to include a version of that film’s conclusion in their iteration, instead of trying to write an original one themselves.
The acting by all involved was good, with Leonard (Simon Yam), the film’s central protagonist, giving a truly remarkable performance as a man torn between his faith and what he believes to be right. By the time the big reveal materializes, Leonard has become more of a back story and the film’s antagonist, a character we see briefly throughout the movie, suddenly becomes the primary focus and when the film shows us how he manipulated Leonard into doing the things he did, using his faith as a plot device, instead of it being believable, even somewhat, it feels contrived and arbitrary and makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If this were a sci-fi movie and the antagonist had mind-control, that would be one way of explaining everything but since it’s not, I guess we just have to believe what we’re being told.
Available to own on DVD June 23rd
