Alex Cross is based on the novel Cross by James Patterson and the third installment of the Alex Cross film series, which was considered a reboot of the series. The title character was previously portrayed by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls (1997) and Along Came a Spider (2001). The film tells the story of a homicide detective is pushed to the brink of his moral and physical limits as he tangles with a ferociously skilled hired killer who specializes in torture and pain.