When young women start disappearing off the streets of LA, it's time for good guy Callan (aka Cross) and his crew of weapons experts to kick into high gear and uncover the mystery. Granted incredible power by his ancient Celtic cross, Callan must fight to stop an immortal Viking from destroying mankind...

Cross is a disappointing sci-fi action movie that could have been so much better than what we end up with. The whole production feels like a rough cut which needed several key scenes inserting to make a poor movie into a passable one.

The biggest problem is the rather weak script. It just feels like a first draft - where the lumps have yet to be beaten out of it. The idea is solid enough, it's just that there are so many characters to service that the film end up doing none of them justice. In a bid to get the characters personalities over to the audience as quickly as possible some of the acting is way over the top and feels a little silly. The only good performances are from Brian Austin Green, Michael Clarke Duncan and Vinnie Jones (playing the same character he always plays). Sure there are some interesting scenes, but when strung together this movie just doesn't feel right. It leaves so many unanswered questions.

For starters why does the movie open with a cop desperate to track down the gang, only to ignore him for the entire movie and have him appear at the end for no real reason? Why don't we ever get to see what the priest character is all about? And why are there the odd sci-fi elements thrown in: Are Callan and Gunnar the only ones on the planet with supernatural abilities? In fact, the more you sit down and think about the movie, the more questions it throws up.

Extras include an audio commentary with director Patrick Durham; Alternate Ending (34 sec); Deleted Scenes (8 min, 15 sec) and Alternate Opening Anamatic (1 min, 02 sec).

While not an absolutely terrible film, it is one I'd suggest renting rather than buying.

6

Darren Rea