Rated R
(bizarre, graphic sexual imagery, nudity,
gore, strong language and drug use)
Directed by Tarsem Singh
Catherine Deane: Jennifer Lopez
FBI Agt. Peter Novack: Vince Vaughn
Carl Stargher: Vincent D’Onofrio
my rating: C+
The Cell can best be explained as a movie that explores and surpasses the limits of visual film making, yet leaves you emotionally empty towards the characters and the plot. The Cell was directed by Tarsem Singh, renowned for his music videos and commercials. As a director, Tarsem brought to the screen fantastical portrayals of a serial killer's subconscious. These horrific images and terrible scenes stay with you long after the credits start rolling, but beautiful imagery does not make a story interesting.
Jennifer Lopez plays a child psychologist who is part of an experimental project which allows someone to enter the mind of another person so as to establish contact with the mind of those who are not able to communicate physically. Vince Vaughn plays an FBI agent in pursuit of a serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) who likes to drown women and then bleach their bodies and dress them up as dolls. The killer is schizophrenic, and slips into a coma upon his arrest (very convenient), with a girl he kidnapped still missing and with only 20 hours to live. Lopez enters his mind in order to learn the whereabouts of the girl. Sounds interesting? Well, this movie consist of all the serial killer clichés from the pass decade in film making from the child abused past to the perverse rituals.
"The Cell" is truly the victim of a weak script. It is an underachiever, failing to break new ground in either character or story. Where "Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven" gave us suspense till the end, "The Cell" gave them an excuse to show off "movie magic" to create a disturbing and fearful environment. Hollywood is losing the belief that a good story is needed to make a good, solid movie.
Unlike "The Cell", "Seven" consisted of visual violence, but also created a thought provoking story about our society. In "The Cell", the viewers are left to adore a breathtaking world that loses track and leaves us with a weak and predictable climax. Unfortunately, in spite of the film's ambition to take the horror genre into unexplored venues, The Cell fails to fully integrate the visual representations of the killer's monstrous mind with the main narrative line. All in all, The Cell seems to squander its rich, visual artistry along the barren paths of its plot.
Crime Thriller DVD - [Tarsem Sing] is a dextrous visual stylist, moving effortlessly from smooth, gleaming surfaces photographed in slow motion to gra...More at Barnes and Noble
A wild ride inside the mind of a serial killer THE CELL is a movie that leads viewers on a strange visual and psychological journey. Catherine Deane J...More at Family Video
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