As fine an actor as any currently working in movies today, Morgan Freeman has made a career out of being better than the material he's given.

So at this point, you'd think he'd at least deserve a better vehicle than "Along Came a Spider," a rather uninvolving thriller that's only a slight improvement on its predecessor, the 1998 hit "Kiss the Girls."

That's because, thankfully, this one is less lurid and exploitative than the first movie. But that doesn't make it much better — and, in fact, the plotting is so ludicrous that at times it makes the first film look coherent by comparison.

If the erratic character development isn't confusing enough, "Along Came a Spider" is actually a prequel — based on James Patterson's first best-seller, and with Freeman reprising his role as criminal profiler Alex Cross.

As the film begins, Cross is in a state of semi-retirement, moping because of a disastrous stakeout that led to the death of his partner. But the self-imposed career hiatus ends quickly, thanks to Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), a clever kidnapper who's hoping to lure Cross into the fray.

Despite his reservations, Cross finds himself partnered with disgraced Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter) as they try to stop Soneji and recover the kidnapping victim, who happens to be the daughter of a U.S. senator.

It's not really worth going into the plot any deeper than that, except to mention that first-time screenwriter Mark Moss borrows elements from "Ransom" and "Dirty Harry."

To his credit, director Lee Tamahori does try to give the action some energy, but he's undercut by the script and a surprisingly bad score from veteran Jerry Goldsmith, music that sounds like it was composed and performed on someone's home computer.

As Cross, Freeman is as good as ever — though the effort is wasted. And frankly, if Freeman were to point a finger at the culprits responsible for this mess, he'd have to point it at himself, since he served as the film's executive producer.

So you'd think he could do better than partnering onscreen with the quickly fading Potter, an actress so bland that she resembles Julia Roberts with the outstanding features bleached out (as well as any trace of personality).

"Along Came a Spider" is rated R for strong action violence (gunfire, stabbings, a strangulation and violence against women), occasional strong profanity, gore, a brief but crude sexual discussion and brief drug use (a knockout drug, injected with a hypodermic). Running time: 103 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com