"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."
-Eric Hoffer
Before watching The Cell, one must be prepared to take a trip. A trip full of both beautiful and haunting images. A disturbing trip that will, at times, make you want to get out, but you can't. This is not your ordinary trip my friends. This is through the mind of a mad man.
The morose film, directed by Tarsem Singh, follows child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) as she takes part in a new technology where she can enter the mind of her patients to see what is going on and possibly cure them.
Catherine does not know what to think when FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) approaches her to enter the mind of serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) who has been found in his home in a coma. They want to go into Carl's mind in order to find his latest female victim before she dies in the glass cell in which Stargher keeps his victims. The cell is programmed to flood leaving his victims' lifeless bodies floating.
Catherine agrees to help and is not prepared for what she encounters. Basically she is being sent into the closest thing to the depths of hell that she will ever see. Once inside Carl's mind, she encounters two versions of him. One is a large, grotesque killer. The second is a frightened and confused young boy. She uses her skills as a child psychologist to reach out to the younger version of Carl.
The film spends much of its time in the surreal other world. This dream like state is where Tarsem is able to deliver something totally new to the audience, if not also totally illogical. This keeps the audience interested and wondering what is around the next corner.
As the film ventures from inside the mind into the real world it is a little less satisfying. The sub-plot of trying to find the last victim would have been a lot more intriguing if Silence Of The Lambs and Seven had not ventured into this territory before. This causes several cliches along the way.
Lopez rises to the occasion and helps elevate the film. Her performance is neither boring nor contrived. The films costumes also help Lopez look good, since some of them are pretty revealing.
So hang on for the ride and never look back. It is not going to please everyone. Its morbid images and outrageous feel are sure to turn some people off. If you can see the film for what it is, an inventive and entertaining suspense, you will probably get trapped in this cell also.
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