George
My wife wanted me to get this off Netflix on a recommendation.Immediately I had a feeling it had been a TV movie. This must have been a very tedious experience watching this weak movie with commercials! Plus it was rate R for some reason. Why if it was on network TV?Only Robert Patrick does a reasonable job as the villain. Even the reliable Pam Grier couldn't bring much to her role as the coroner. Tracy Pollan is really a subpar actress. Only the slight plot twists made this any small reason to waste 2 and half hours viewing this. Mitch Pileggi was very credible and Gil Bellows very disappointing. Don't was any time on this movie. There are so many other good movies to rent or purchase.
gimmeDV
I love the comments that I'm seeing on this board. I totally agree with most of the people here that 1st to Die was horrible. While it stayed pretty faithful to the book, it was still inexplicably horrible. I can't believe it was 3 hours long! I was so mad at the performances, I couldn't even watch half of it. The book is spectacular like all of Patterson's novels but, like others have said... filmmakers have yet to make a decent adaptation of one of them... Mr Patterson, are you actually watching these movies? Aren't you mad at what hollywood is reducing them to? This movie was basically a sweeps ratings boost. You can't have it come out that fast and not think that. Sir, please ask these screenwriters... is it that hard to do this right???
rye9969
Let me just start off by saying that this made for TV movie was quite well done. I have seen a few movies made from novels, and we all know what screenwriters and movie directors do to our favourite novels don't we? If first saw Patterson's "Kiss the Girls" way before I even knew that there was a book. I have always been a fan of murder/thriller/whodunnit type movies, and when that movie came out, I was totally captivated by its energy and story. However after I found out that "Kiss the Girls" was actually a novel written by James Patterson, I had to pick up a copy. I thank my ex-girlfriend for getting me hooked onto Mr. Patterson's writing, because I haven't been able to miss any of his books since. Moving on...So I read "Kiss the Girls" and was completely surprised by how entirely different, and more entertaining than the theatrical movie was. Although I loved the movie, it just didn't draw me in like the book did afterwards. So by the time "Along Came a Spider" arrived in the movie theaters, I had already read it's novel counterpart. Again I was entertained, and still enjoy the movie from time to time, but I did not get the great indepth experience as I did with James Patterson's works of art.After reading "1st to Die" and "2nd Chance" before the TV movie came out, I couldn't wait till the movie with Markie Post hit the TV channels. Markie Post? Queen Latifah? Were they really suggested to play the roles of Lindsey Boxer and Claire Washburn? Yup... according to the IMDB, but when the previews came out of "1st to Die", sure enough the casting information had been wrong. From start to finish I found that the TV addaptation was quite well done. However there were quite a few rushed scenes, I felt that overall, this was the best attempt at bringing a Patterson book to the screen.The characters were well played, except that I felt Jill Burnhardt's name was only mentioned once, and when she made her first appearance on the screen, no one knew who the hell she was. At first I thought that she was another female cop thrown into the mess, but once she made a few more appearances, with no one even saying "hey Jill" I kinda figured that she was Seattle's(San Fran's) deputy DA. Thanks for letting the audience know that. Then there was Cindy. I think that she was thrown in just like Jill was, to keep the Murder Club true to the book.The relationship between the four women didn't seem as solid as it did in the novel, and like I said before, a lot of the meetings with them felt rushed like it didn't belong in the movie. Also Cindy (yes I know that she is a reporter) pops up everywhere like she's a freaking psychic. Also with Chris Raleigh, it never states in the movie that he's seperated and has children, but on his tombstone it says "beloved father and husband". With this little tidbit left out, as well as no mention of Lindsey's important father, one goes to wonder how or even if they'll make a "2nd Chance."Pam Grier plays a convincing Claire, as well as Tracy Polly playing Lindsey, but the best performance in the entire movie was done by Robert Patrick. He's always been a great 'evil' looking character. In the end... "1st to Die" moved along quite well, and did stick fairly pure to its novel counterpart. Some things were missing, and some things were rushed, but all in all I recommend a viewing by Patterson fans at least once in their life.
Spooky2001
I have to say this to everybody who gave it a bad review. What are you guys thinking!!? This is a great movie. It should have been in theaters. I guess this just isn't your guys type of movie. Anybody with half a brain should be able to see that it is a great movie. No matter what people think.
