The Cell starts as serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) kidnaps Julia Hickson (Tara Subkoff) who he intends to be his next victim, Stargher takes Julia to an isolated underground bunker & imprisons her in a large glass tank which will start to fill with water & eventually drown her. However FBI agents lead by agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) are close to catching Stargher & raid his house only to find Stargher comatose on the floor after having some sort of seizure. The doctors say Stargher will never regain consciousness & that his latest victim Julia is doomed to die. Then they decide to use an new technology that allows one person to enter the mind of another using computers, Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is given the job of entering the mind of a serial killer & finding out where he has hidden Julia in order to save her life. It isn't pretty inside Stargher's mind & with time running out the pressure is on to find the answers...
This American German co-production was the feature film directorial debut of Tarsem Singh & while one cannot deny The Cell is a striking visual experience it's less impressive on other counts. If we forget about the lush & extravagant visuals for a moment there's not that much of a film here to be honest, the serial killer angle is laid bare within the opening sequence & as such there are no twists or surprises in that regard. We know Stargher is the killer from the get-go & the film plays to expectations in this aspect. The character's are fairly poor, the ever awful Jennifer Lopez's character in particular has no sort of story at all, we never find anything out about her & apart from walking around some fancy sets wearing some bizarre clothes she doesn't really have anything to do. Other character are similarly short changed in the development stakes. At about 100 odd minutes the pace is alright but I did like the film better while it was a straight serial killer thriller & I sort of lost interest once Lopez went into Stargher's mind with some surreal & bizarre moments that aren't exactly bad but I didn't really know what to make of them. The actually process in which Lopez enters Stargher's mind is never really explained & it looks more like virtual reality than a computer programme with those suits that they wear. I didn't hate The Cell but I didn't love it either, it looks fantastic but it's also rather shallow & somewhat empty on the inside.
As already mentioned by just about everyone else who has ever seen The Cell some of the visuals are stunning from the sets to the special effects & the costumes which are lavish, extravagant & a joy to see. The Cell is a great looking, very arty & frankly gorgeously photographed film. The camera is free flowing, it travels everywhere from high shots to wide shots to tracking shots there's always something to look at & appreciate in The Cell but is that enough? Not really. There's a bit of nastiness with D'Onofrio hanging himself from the ceiling by metal hooks & masturbating over his dead victim & there's also an unpleasant scene in which someones guts are pulled out of their body on a spit roast thing. While it looks great & it's inspiration lies in surreal paintings & other works it's not scary & there's surprisingly little tension as it's fairly predictable with no real twists or surprises.
With a supposed budget of about $33,000,000 The Cell looks great & has lavish production values & decent CGI effects, filmed in California & Namibia. The acting is OK, I personally hate Jennifer Lopez as I don't think she can act, I don't think shes that good looking & she definitely can't sing so whats the point of her existence?
The Cell is a visually striking serial killer thriller that is very easy on the eye & features some truly memorable imagery but it doesn't really cut the mustard on any other count. Followed by a DTV sequel The Cell 2 (2009) which by all accounts is awful.
This American German co-production was the feature film directorial debut of Tarsem Singh & while one cannot deny The Cell is a striking visual experience it's less impressive on other counts. If we forget about the lush & extravagant visuals for a moment there's not that much of a film here to be honest, the serial killer angle is laid bare within the opening sequence & as such there are no twists or surprises in that regard. We know Stargher is the killer from the get-go & the film plays to expectations in this aspect. The character's are fairly poor, the ever awful Jennifer Lopez's character in particular has no sort of story at all, we never find anything out about her & apart from walking around some fancy sets wearing some bizarre clothes she doesn't really have anything to do. Other character are similarly short changed in the development stakes. At about 100 odd minutes the pace is alright but I did like the film better while it was a straight serial killer thriller & I sort of lost interest once Lopez went into Stargher's mind with some surreal & bizarre moments that aren't exactly bad but I didn't really know what to make of them. The actually process in which Lopez enters Stargher's mind is never really explained & it looks more like virtual reality than a computer programme with those suits that they wear. I didn't hate The Cell but I didn't love it either, it looks fantastic but it's also rather shallow & somewhat empty on the inside.
As already mentioned by just about everyone else who has ever seen The Cell some of the visuals are stunning from the sets to the special effects & the costumes which are lavish, extravagant & a joy to see. The Cell is a great looking, very arty & frankly gorgeously photographed film. The camera is free flowing, it travels everywhere from high shots to wide shots to tracking shots there's always something to look at & appreciate in The Cell but is that enough? Not really. There's a bit of nastiness with D'Onofrio hanging himself from the ceiling by metal hooks & masturbating over his dead victim & there's also an unpleasant scene in which someones guts are pulled out of their body on a spit roast thing. While it looks great & it's inspiration lies in surreal paintings & other works it's not scary & there's surprisingly little tension as it's fairly predictable with no real twists or surprises.
With a supposed budget of about $33,000,000 The Cell looks great & has lavish production values & decent CGI effects, filmed in California & Namibia. The acting is OK, I personally hate Jennifer Lopez as I don't think she can act, I don't think shes that good looking & she definitely can't sing so whats the point of her existence?
The Cell is a visually striking serial killer thriller that is very easy on the eye & features some truly memorable imagery but it doesn't really cut the mustard on any other count. Followed by a DTV sequel The Cell 2 (2009) which by all accounts is awful.