The Cell (2000)

Strong and Moving!

So much average

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The first must-see film of the year.

Looks and sounds great, but the script doesn't make a lot of sense. MINOR SPOILER - One of the characters makes a comment that effectively says that JLo's character is irrelevant to the solution of the serial killer hunt. In which case, why are we even watching her story? Overall, a bit too silly to take seriously.

Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn and Vincent D'Onofrio star in this 2000 thriller. Lopez (Enough) plays Catherine Deane, a psychologist who helps FBI agent, Peter Novak find a kidnapped girl. Her process, is to get inside the mind of her abductor, a comatose, serial killer, Carl Stargher (D'Onofrio) who is the only one that knows. This is a bizarre film that reminds me a bit of "Manhunter" & "Red Dragon" with a decent cast and neat effects. I'd check it out at least once if you're into psychological thrillers.

The Cell is the best, worst movie I've ever seen. The things it does well, it does REALLY WELL, and the things that it does badly, it does REALLY BADLY. It's sad because it could have been a masterpiece. What was great: the cinematography, the imagery, the acting (absolutely phenomenonal), and the overall plot (which was ruined by the awful writing). What was terrible: the script, the writing, and the way the plot is haphazardly and unnaturally constructed. Everything seems so contrived and unnatural. For example, it's way too convenient that the killer has this Seizure thingy and goes into a coma on the same day they come to arrest him, it's way to convenient that somehow the doctor just happens to know off the top of his head of a research laboratory that does inception-like crap and can help them figure out where the girl is being held, it's way too convenient that he has the water sprinklers in the cell set on automatic so that it can fill up without him there, adding to the suspense and time sensitivity of the situation, it's so obvious the connection is made between the killer having a suspension fetish and then when they do their inception-like stuff, they're similarly suspended, it just feels way too forced, and the kid, Edward, had the same type of rare schizophrenia as the killer dude? Come on. This movie is very disappointing, not because it's bad, but because it could have been one of the most amazing movies of all time right up there with Inception, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Memento, Seven, the Butterfly Effect, Donny Darko, Being John Malkovich, the Fountain, the Jacket, Clockwork Orange, and a few more that I am forgetting, movies that are perched front and center on the shelf of any trippy, psychological thriller, mind-bending movie fan. Instead, this movie goes in the pile of beautiful disappointments, kind of like the brilliant child that always disappoints their parents, not because they're a bus driver making an honest living, but because everyone knows that kid could have been president.

A Film with the Premise of Probing the Mind of a Very Violent, Sadistic, and Highly Disturbed Serial Killer is, If Done Right, Bound to Be Very Violent, Sadistic, and Highly Disturbing. Indian Director Singh Certainly Got It Right.The Film Left Some Viewers Disgusted and Nauseated. Maybe that's Because the Behavior of the Serial Killer is Disgusting and Nauseating. What Makes the Film Special is the Way it's Framed with an Artsy, Beautiful Template that Completely Goes Against the Aforementioned. It is Contrast Taken to a Level of Disassociation.It's a Disturbing and Haunting Film. The Images on Screen Could be the Most Artistic and Gut-Wrenching of Any Modern Horror Movie. The Combination of Police Procedure, Psychological Interface, and Outrageous Criminal Behavior was Something New in the Year 2000. But, it Might Remind One of a Movie Made More than 80 Years Previously. "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1917).Jennifer Lopez is Perfect in the Role of a Medical Sensitive and Vince Vaughn Delivers a Thankfully Restrained Detective. Vincent D'Onofrio is Outlandishly Outstanding as the Antagonist.Overall, it is a Strange Film that is Definitely Not for Everyone. But will Most Likely be Embraced by Art Film and Horror Movie Fans. It has Images that are Likely to Linger and Although Some are Stunning in Their Surreal Beauty, Others are a Blood-Bath Not So Easy to Forget, Unsettling and Psychically Intrusive.