The Cell (2000) User Reviews

Creativly original.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 1 January 2006]

This movie is definitely a case of style over substance but the style is good and certainly more than unique on its own to make "The Cell" a memorable and above average movie.

"The Cell" is beautifully looking with impressive sets, costumes and make-up. Yes, it's real eye candy to watch all. The movie has some perfectly 'dreamy' sequences that are certainly odd but also very beautiful and imaginative to look at. This movie is a perfect mix of an art-house type of movie and a typical Hollywood-thriller, that is accessible to both fans of the genre.

The story itself is pretty far fetched and doesn't always make sense. Because of that the movie isn't always pleasant and likable to watch but like I mentioned before, the style compensates for this. The style makes you keep watching till the end and provides the best moments of the movie.

Vincent D'Onofrio is unforgettable as the serial-killer with a twisted mind. Vincent D'Onofrio is really underused as an actor and this movie shows his talent once more. I'm not particularly happy about the casting of Jennifer Lopez. I know that she can act in some of her movies but she really wasn't suitable to play the main character in this movie. Her character wasn't strong enough and she was overshadowed by Vincent D'Onofrio and Vince Vaughn. Still I felt that Vince Vaughn was also miscast in this movie. He didn't fit the role well enough and no, I'm not saying that because I'm used of seeing him only in comedies now days. The rest of the supporting cast is good and still give the movie a certain degree of credibility.

The musical score by Howard Shore was also surprising good and was sort of "Se7en" like at times. It suited the movie well and gave some of the scene's some extra mood and atmosphere.

It's a far from perfect movie and the concept is far fetched and not always handled in the right way. Still "The Cell" is a perfectly watchable movie and perhaps even a bit of a must see, due to its style, originality and creativity.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Nightmarishly good, but far from perfect.

[oxblood · 7/10 · 13 January 2005]

Style over substance. But what a style it is. "The Cell" is the internal version of most serial killer movies. Unfortunately, the story hardly supports the visuals.

Psychotherapist Catherine Deane (J-Lo) goes into her patients' dreams via artificial means to discover and help them over come their phobias and obsessions. A new patient whose fallen into a coma, is brought to her attention by the FBI. He's a serial killer who drowns his female victims then poses their bodies in grotesque scenarios like mannequins. Deane must enter the killer's mind and navigate through his sick fantasies in order to find and save his latest victim.

Director Tarsem Singh has incredible visions and set pieces for this production. Each dream sequence is like a nightmare-ish painting in motion, from the landscapes to the costumes.

But the plot suffers from lack of history of its characters. Stargher is the only person with a thorough background and he's the last person you want to care about. Without him, you basically have a movie that moves in the present tense only, which is a shame since the movie is so visually stunning and genuinely scary. Lopez is wasted but she's not that amazing an actress anyway, though she's as gorgeous as ever. And Vince Vaughn? I don't even know why he was chosen. This is not his forte and he overacts to boot. He tried too hard to become his character and it showed. Stick to comedy, Vince! Even so, this movie is so visually frightening, I still watch this movie with the lights on and can never fall asleep right away afterward.

The Cell: whoa... eww... whoa...

[kitsenugari · 11 September 2000]

The last time I reviewed a film helmed by a music video director, I was very angry at what I'd seen (`Mystery Men'), but Tarsem Singh spares us the fish-eye lenses and commercial overindulgences and decides to concentrate on presenting an astonishing visual and audible journey into the mind of a serial killer in `The Cell'.

Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) kills women by drowning them in glass cells, all the while videotaping the event. Afterwards, he disfigures the bodies to resemble dolls and then tosses the finished `products' off highways into ditches and streams. Nice guy. He also likes to suspend himself on chains attached to hooks inserted directly into his back. Lovely.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) is hot on the killer's trail, and although Carl's started to get sloppy, he's just kidnapped another girl and she has 40 hours before her cell fills with water. Carl is soon apprehended, but only because he enters into a schizophrenic seizure and falls into a coma on his kitchen floor. A coma? But how are they going to find out where the last victim is? Oh, if only they could TRAVEL INSIDE HIS MIND. Hey, what a coincidence! Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is a child psychologist involved in an experimental project that allows her to TRAVEL INSIDE THE MIND of coma victims.

And so begins a strange array of visuals and sounds, blended together so unusually that you honestly feel like you're experiencing a dream… a not so pleasant dream. Not only is Carl's mind slightly twisted, it's violent, disturbingly sexual, and very graphic. But, it's also like a train wreck; you can't help but look. Oddly enough, Mr. Singh clearly had the resources to make his special effects scream out at you with bright color and absurd lavishness, but he chose instead to simplify, placing the terror in the scale and content of the visuals. I can't even use an example. All I can say is think about a dream you've had that you couldn't describe to someone, and that's what watching this movie is like. The photography is so stunning that it virtually eliminates the need for dialogue (only about half the film has discourse), and coupled with the horrifically spooky and scathing soundtrack, the film literally takes on a life of its own.

My only objection is that when all is said and done, the only character we really understand is the serial killer. Several clues about the other characters' pasts led me to believe that their lives would come into play and that their own memories would be tested and confronted. To me, this would have taken this story to yet another psychological level, but perhaps it would have been too much for viewers.

Despite this shortcoming, `The Cell' stills provides a myriad of images that will make you want to watch a lot of cute cartoons before turning in for the night. Still, I don't know what was more disturbing: the movie, or the parents in the next row over who brought their two small kids to watch it.

Bizarre, yet interesting at the same time

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 7/10 · 31 December 2004]

I remember seeing the trailer for this movie when it was first released and it looked pretty cool. I never got the chance to see it though. When I went to Blockbuster to rent some videos, I figured I should watch it. After all I did love "Silence of the Lambs" and "Se7en", and if you enjoyed those movies, you might get a kick out of "The Cell". The whole story concept is very interesting. Going physically into the mind of a killer, I can't imagine the world they live in. The acting is actually pretty decent. Jennifer Lopez is the only one I have to say that wasn't that great, but she does a believable job. I would recommend for a scary thriller.

7/10

Not understood by most

[oroszi · 10/10 · 15 November 2018]

Probably the most underrated serial killer movie of all, past and to come, times. Never seen anything like that. Not only the visual, by the way astonishing, but also the concept. If you are a serious movie lover, specially this genra, it is a must to see.

visually stimulating but not much substance

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 4 April 2006]

I don't know what it was about this movie that failed to thoroughly captivate me. It was good enough to hold my attention and get me to wince a little, but that was only due to the special effects. The story was O.K., it reminded me a lot of Dreamscape. Catherine Dean (Jennifer Lopez) is the main character. She plays a psychiatrist that is able to enter the mind of her patients via some secret drug and electronics. Things start getting hectic when she enters the mind of a psychotic killer named Carl Stargher (Vincent D'onofrio) in order to find out where he has hidden his latest victim.

There were plenty of interesting scenes from a cinematic perspective, but the dialogue and story itself did little to make this movie very good. The idea of going into another realm to accomplish something in reality is nothing new even if it is going into someone's mind. When you strip back all of the visual stimuli, you are left with sophomoric psychology and a weaker version of Silence of the Lambs.

Fantastic Visuals But Very Sordid, Unpleasant Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 12 December 2006]

This film has some of the wildest visuals I'd seen up to the time of my first viewing of this in April of 2001. The visuals were easily the highlight of the film. It isn't the story because that's too much on the sordid side. Sometimes, it's just plain too uncomfortable.

It's another demented serial killer story, this one as sick an individual as I've seen, although, thankfully, there are not a lot of scenes with him. The switch is that he is captured early on but is in a catatonic-like state and unable to talk. His latest victim must be found quickly or she will die as the others did. The only way to find where this woman is stashed is by going inside his brain and try to solve the puzzle. That's Jennifer Lopez's role here as "Catherine Deane." When she enters, the visuals are perhaps like someone on LSD, and they are very interesting, along with good sound effects. It's a bizarre story that keeps your attention, although gruesome at times. I haven't seen this film since 2002 and since then became a fan of Vincent D'Onofrio's detective character in Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I'm not sure I want to go back and see him as this sick killer now that I am used to seeing him as a "good guy." However, I am curious about that.

The bad points of the film, to me, were (1) a definite anti-Christian cheap shot in which it is shown that the killer was first "tortured" when he was baptized through immersion and held too long under water by his sadistic father. In addition to the obvious bias, it also shows you how theologically ignorant Hollywood is, thinking the parent does the baptizing. Wrong. Anway, in conjunction with that, the killer is shown ore as a young boy than any other period and then is seen to be a sympathetic figure! Only with Liberals, is there sympathy for the sadistic killer more than his victims!! At least there is one cop in here who states that a horrible childhood doesn't have to turn someone into a sick killer.

So th question for me wound up being: are the visuals worth putting up with the unpleasant story. The answer wound up being "no."

It's All In the Pictures

[asthmaticpunk · 9/10 · 5 February 2005]

Forget about the plot of this movie. Forget about the fact that it is wonderfully acted by Vince Vaughn and Vincend D'Onofrio. Forget about the fact that it is one of the few movies starring Jennifer Lopez that I can stomach. Although the story may be impossible to believe and much of the dialogue seems contrived, the one and only important thing to remember when contemplating watching this movie is that it contains some of the most amazing and disturbing imagery ever put on film. It is as if Salvador Dali decided to make a crime drama. A must see for anyone seriously interested in cinematography and the use of the film cell as a canvas on which to display true works of visual art. I would have to give this movie a 9/10 for it's amazing visual display.

Girlfriend in a coma.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 23 June 2009]

Silence Of The Lambs meets Dreamscape in this slick, sick sci-fi/horror which stars J-Lo as Catherine Deane, a psychologist who enters the mind of comatose serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of his latest victim, Anne Marie Vicksey, who is trapped in a glass room that is slowly filling with water.

When Catherine runs into trouble whilst inside Stargher's twisted subconscious world, FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) plunges himself into the nightmare in an attempt to save her.

As far as dazzling eye candy is concerned, The Cell is a real winner: packed with arresting cinematography, surrealist effects, striking set design, and incredibly creative costumes, the film is simply stunning to look at and, for this reason alone, is well worth checking out. It's a shame, however, that The Cell's intriguing storyline isn't quite as polished as the visuals.

Certain aspects of the story are handled extremely well, such as the abduction and plight of Anne Marie and Stargher's perverted treatment of his victims' bodies, but other areas of the plot make little sense or feel under-developed: Catherine saving Stargher's inner child seems ultimately rather pointless (he's a serial killer; he dies; so who cares); Novak hints at a troubled childhood, but we never learn what it is that happened to him; and the FBI agent's realisation that he knows how to locate Ann-Marie is way too sudden.

As far as the performances go, Lopez and Vaughn are adequate, but it is D'Onofrio who steals the show, both as the 'real-life' lank-haired killer (who gets his kicks by suspending himself above his victims' bleached corpses and having a quick hand shandy whilst watching them die on video), and his wicked dream persona—a decadent, sniggering demi-god in a freaky world of his own making.

Tarkovsky badly misinterpreted

[Voix · 4/10 · 5 May 2001]

Oh yes, it's all there: dog, horse, boy child (the son), the zone (the cell), all that water, weathered wall, battered machinery, miniature house (home), weightlessness/elevation, the tree (of life/hope, blossoming even if it was dead to begin with) and religious imagery galore.

After seeing Tarsem Singh's dreadful misunderstanding of Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Offret' in the musicvideo for REM's 'Losing my Religion' years ago, i just knew a full feature film would contain so much more utter nonsense. I was not mistaken ;-)

A lot of the imagery stems from Tarkovsky films directly; especially from 'Stalker', 'Nostalghia', 'The Mirror' and last but not least: 'The Sacrifice'('Offret')

So it's Tarkovsky badly misinterpreted with Singh delivering us such fine bonus, totally misplaced, christian moralities as 'salvation through cleansing of the soul' bla bla 'baptism', 'god-me-son triangularity', purgatory scenes, heaven and hell as ying and yang, 'Saint Catherine The Pure', bla bla, o lord.....

The Cell attempts to run deep, but it's just very very shallow.

Vision, dear Mr. Sing, not just images !

You ain't seen nothing yet...

[JohnnyPHreak · 19 August 2000]

I've said before that some films are like `nothing you have ever seen before'. Well, The Cell takes that saying and burns it down, blows it up and drowns it. This movie is something you could and can be only imagined. And if you then told someone about it they'd have you locked up for a very long time. It could be categorized as a Sci-fi thriller and then as a serial killer film. Like Seven and Silence of the Lambs this is not the ordinary serial killer film. It stands on it's own as a new kind of thriller.

Jennifer Lopez stars as Catherine Deane, the best psychotherapist in the business. She works for a company who has developed the latest technology in therapy. She has the ability to go inside the mind of anyone and find out the reasoning to his or her distress. Enter Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn), a FBI agent tracking down a very sick serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), who drowns his victims then dresses them up like dolls. On a FBI raid of his home Stargher goes into a coma and the whereabouts of his next victim are unknown. So Deane takes the job of going into his mind to find out where the victim is being held. And that's when this film gets intense, seriously intense.

The director Tarsem Singh, known for the award winning R.E.M. video `Losing my Religion', blows away everything you could have imagined. The dream sequences are beautifully shot with many camera tricks, creepy color distribution, graphic images, and a tense score. They are extremely trippy and surreal. They actually have a dream feel because anything goes and there are no rules. Lopez performance is as good as she looks. She nails the psychotherapist dead on and does a great job in showing the different aspects of her character. Vince is Vince, very cool, very low key, and very real. D'Onofrio will scare you. His Carl Stargher would make even Hannibal Lecter scream for mommy. This guy is more disturbed than ever imagined. He has to be seen to believe it.

Tarsem, with this film, has become one of my favorite directors and I will go see any film with his name on it. The Cell can only be described as a Sci-fi serial killer thriller that's visually disturbing, creepy, and one of the wildest films ever. It runs along the line with Seven for a good serial killer film and Event Horizon for a graphically sick and twisted film. This is best summer movie and the best film I've seen all year.

Stylish, inventive, umm?

[thehumanduvet · 7/10 · 18 June 2001]

Despite all it's trappings of style and cinematic invention, this is basically another serial killer thriller, following the same sort of plotline favoured by such old favourites as Silence of the Lambs ? team of cops follows the trail of (particularly nasty) murders, someone else gets taken and they somehow have to find out where they are before it's too late. Only in this case, the only person who knows, the killer himself (powerfully played by Vincent D'Onofrio) is in a coma and we need psychologist Jennifer Lopez' sci-fi mind-meld machine to get into his head and force him to tell all. This is where the film gets all new and different, as we enter (via a 21st-Century CGI update of Dr Who's kaleidoscopic favourite, the trendy time tunnel) a kind of Hellraiser-y weird world of scary crazy stuff going on all over the place, ruled over by D'Onofrio, now a kind of superking overlord of his twisted mental world, inside his comatose body. The inside-the-mind sequences are well realised and often pretty stunning, all the leads perform adequately, the gruesomeness is to the max if you like that kind of thing, but the hype around the whole thing led to a disappointment for me, as I had expected something completely new and unlike anything ever done before, not this fairly successful blending of serial-killer and special-effect-horror genre staples. Sometimes horrifying, often pretty, a fairly gripping story told with care and attention by talented film people, but by no means the great leap into the unknown it has been marketed as.

The most disgusting film I have seen in ages

[Kiwinick · 1/10 · 19 January 2001]

Although this film is supposedly a psychological thriller about what goes on in the mind of serial killer It is nothing more than a disgusting, voyeristic, pornographic tour of the torture of a woman and the abuse of a child. I don't say that the film is pornographic because of any nudity or sexual imagery (although there was plenty of the latter). No, I call it pornographic because we are supposed to sit in our comfortable chairs, happily munching on popcorn, and watch as one young woman suffers by slowly drowning, and another is tortured with drowning, and while a small child is beaten and maimed: this is sadism as entertainment, and I think that the casual display of violence in this way is far more destructive and immoral than any nakedness or sexual activity. The fact that in this film the violence is sexualised, with young women made out to be dolls and placed in provocative poses highlights my characterisation of the film as pornographic. At the beginning of my piece, I said that this film is intended to be a "psychological thriller". Well, it isn't. If there is any doubt in anyone's mind that the woman in "The Cell" will be rescued (or by whom), or if Jennifer Lopez's character will "come back" from the killer's mind then you should be in a half-way house, as you will be unable to care for yourself in a modern society. There is no tension. There is no examination of anyone's motives or character (with the sole exception of the killer, and even in this case, the only purpose of the examination of his mind is to titillate, not to enlighten). I cannot understand what merits this film displays apart from the artfulness with which it is shot. This in itself is not (or should not be) an excuse to display abuse and torture. Those who took part in this film, particularly those who funded it, shame. To those who watched and were not sickened... remember (or indeed learn about for the first time) Kitty Genovese, the woman murdered in front of 38 witnesses, none of whom did anything to help her (not even call the police). Can we really watch very realistic torture scenes such as those constructed for this film and not feel sickened? I hope not.

Another serial killer movie with unique killer visuals

[SnoopyStyle · 9/10 · 17 November 2013]

Catharine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) is a psychologist who uses an experimental treatment that literally goes into the dreams of her patients. Captured serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) is in a coma and FBI Agent Novak (Vince Vaughn) convinces Deane to go into his mind to find his last victim before she's killed in an automatic water chamber.

Director Tarsem Singh uses the well worn serial killer movie to add an amazing visual depiction of the dreamworld. The serial killing is dark and creepy like 'Se7en'. It's been done before, but the dreamscape visuals are a completely different story. It is stunningly beautiful and disturbing, an artistic view on dreamscapes. The style is unlike anything I've seen before. For that, I must give it full marks.

The Cell is by far the strangest movie I have ever seen!

[Justin-62 · 7/10 · 17 August 2000]

The film starts off with a surreal walk over a massive sand dune to blaring Arabic music, and gets stranger from there.

Jennifer Lopez plays psychologist Catherine Deane who, through the wonder of modern science, goes inside the mind of schizophrenic patients. In the movie's opening scenes, we learn that she is participating in research project to bring catatonic schizophrenics back to reality. This premise is the set up for the main story in which the FBI is trying to stop a schizophrenic serial killer who's crimes are becoming more frequent. As luck would have it, the Feebs catch up with the killer as he collapses into a permanent state of catatonia. The problem is the he is the only one who knows where his latest victim is being hidden. Desperate to find the girl before she dies (in a manner that gives rise to the film's title) Catherine (Lopez) goes into the mind of the killer in hopes of finding the missing girl.

What follows is a series of very strange scenes I really can't find the words to describe. The visual imagery of The Cell is at times beautiful and at times disturbing. The sets and costumes are elaborate and well crafted. If the academy isn't turned off by the story, The Cell could pick up a couple of nods in February.

A few cautions about this film. If you do not like movies that jump around with little continuity, I would recommend you pass on this one. Also, this film is rated "R" and I would take the rating very seriously. Although the language is minimal, there is some violence and numerous depictions of mutilated female bodies (many of them nude).

I don't know that I can go so far as to say I liked The Cell, but it was definitely better than I expected. All in all I give it a 7 out of 10, because that's the max I will give without saying I actually liked a movie.

The film was a prime example of putting visuals ahead of storytelling.

[mlaspen · 1/10 · 21 August 2000]

I really enjoy this genre but The Cell was one of the worst movies I've ever been unfortunate enough to watch. While about 25 percent of my audience wandered in and out of the theater during the viewing (or left entirely) I was dumb enough to stick it out. The main problems with this story (there were too many to list all) is that with this type of film you have to do two things... one, provide fear of the killer (being that they catch him twenty minutes into the film that's gone) and you must give the victim whose life is at stake (the girl in the tank) enough character development that you actually care whether they get to her in time or not. Not only did I lose track of the girl, I was given such little insight into her that she was only a blurry face and when I did remember she was part of the story I really didn't care what happened to her. While the visuals were interesting in an LSD flashback sort of way, they often times made no sense and this should be a lesson that visuals can't make up for lack of a good story (see Phantom Menace for another example) Finally, does anyone know or care what was up with the women kneeling in that field and staring at the sky? Ridiculous.

Thinking too much maybe...

[duncancmccann · 6 December 2020]

I've read so many analytical essays amongst the reviews on here. You know what? Stop watching every film as if it's a challenge to something else. Just let the present experience envelope you. I saw this on TV and immediately went online to buy a copy. All the actors do a good job, the plot is not 100% new it's true - but hey, c'mon, go with the flow. Visually it is stunning, beautiful, terrifying, glorious. Too many people look at films to find the flaws - every film has flaws, but this one overcomes any you may pick on. Sit back, relax, then realise thet Vincent D'Onofrio give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money.

Jennifer and Vince ,, in a great movie

[fanan450 · 7/10 · 20 April 2019]

It was fantastic. the story was good , the acting was almost perfect . the beautiful Jennifer always made a great job I loved her acting , and fabulous Vince Vaughn was incredible too , this is the first time I saw him in a detective character, and he was perfect. unfortunately this movie is underrated and I don't know why I didn't heard about it in all these 19 years until this moment while I am writing this review, but it was very good.

7/10

Remarkably not awful

[wandereramor · 7/10 · 15 July 2012]

The Cell is a weird, quickly-forgotten movie from the post-Matrix wave of trippy science fiction starring Jennifer Loepz and (a remarkably skinny) Vince Vaughn of all people. In essence, it's CSI by way of Paprika, with Lopez's character entering the dreamscape of a criminal to try and find his latest victim.

It's in these dream sequences that the film really signs. An assortment of horrific images, adapted surrealist art, and jumbled-up psychoanalysis produces a number of segments that are genuinely creepy and creative. It raises the same questions about dream and reality as any number of other films, but what makes The Cell remarkable is the lack of clear answers it gives. In the end we never have a single explanation for why our killer does what he does -- we get some hints at a biological deformity, an abusive childhood, and a strange religious belief system, but none of them are established as a clear answer. The meaning of the dream sequences are similar -- they're cinema that begs for explication, and I always love that.

The dream sequences alone make the film worth watching, which is good because other than that there isn't much there. The plot outside of the science-fictional element is a serviceable but generic cop thriller that spends way too much time getting to the point. Vaughn and Lopez are also woefully miscast, which is too bad as their characters really needed good actors to flesh out the hazy writing. There are plenty of cheesy moments and flaws, but I find myself liking the movie despite myself. Maybe I wouldn't hate all of these contemporary blockbusters if they shoehorned in a surrealist sequence or two.

Incredible! Stunning visuals.

[paulclaassen · 6/10 · 23 April 2019]

We've seen this type of story before, but not like this! Wow, bloody, wow, the film's visuals are unusual and incredible! Almost every scene is masterfully done. To add to the visual experience, the photography and cinematography are equally impressive. The editing is also fantastic. The costumes and make-up are also absolutely stunning.

This is the story of a sick madman - abused as a child - who abducts women and transforms them into dolls. There are a few very disturbing images, so be warned. The dream world is very realistically created to look and feel like a dream. This is one incredible movie! You can't help but marvel at this cinematic achievement!

An act of hatred

[eastbourne17 · 1/10 · 14 April 2001]

This movie is filled with such vile images that I can only assume that the screenwriter wanted to hurt the people who watched it. His imagination is capable of conceiving such sickening violence that he frightens me. Don't watch this movie. Don't let anyone who took part in it gain anything from it. It has no redeeming value whatever. It is anti-human. It was written by someone who hates humanity.

Every once in a while a film comes along that stands apart from all others made in years. The Matrix did it last year, and The Cell has done it in 2000.

[Anonymous_Maxine · 9/10 · 8 September 2000]

The last film that provided a vivid and disturbing look at what insanity is probably like was In Dreams. In that movie, you didn't see insanity, you were THERE. Now The Cell comes along with an updated and much more disturbing portrayal of the inside of the mind of a psychotic killer. The opening scene takes you into the seemingly innocent mind of a comatose little boy, and the things that Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) sees are first fascinating and then terrifying. The things that she later sees in the mind of Vincent Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) are amazingly imaginative and fascinating, most of this stuff has never been seen in film before.

The story of The Cell is not exactly something that is really groundbreaking. In fact, it is basically the same as the story in The Silence of the Lambs. You have a killer in custody and these people have to enter his mind to find a female victim who is currently in danger of losing her life. The only real difference between the foundation of the plots is that in The Silence of the Lambs, you have to enter the mind of a killer to find a different killer as well as his current victim, while in The Cell, you have to enter the mind of a killer to find his own victim. However, despite the unfortunately weak story, The Cell completely revolutionizes the genre of the psychological thriller. None that have ever been made even come close to it.

Also, the film had good direction and was extremely well acted. Vince Vaughn delivers another of his characteristically excellent performances (he was even good as Norman Bates in the pathetic 1998 re-make of Psycho), and even Jennifer Lopez puts forth the second good effort of her career (the other being the great Out of Sight). Nothing can be said of the cinematography in The Cell to give it sufficient credit, it was imaginative and fascinatingly done and is unparalleled by anything ever seen in cinematic history. The Cell is an incredibly well-made film, and it deserves to be recognized.

how to "cell" an idea

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 29 April 2006]

Sort of expanding on "The Silence of the Lambs", "The Cell" portrays a woman (Jennifer Lopez) entering a comatose killer's (Vincent D'Onofrio) mind so that he can help her find his latest victim. I guess that this movie is really all about the visuals as she drifts through his subconscious. If the movie has any problem, it's the casting of Jennifer Lopez. She actually does a good job here, but given that she's only starred in idiotic movies since, it's almost hard to take her seriously (and at times, it seems like they're just trying to show off her underwear). Fortunately, D'Onofrio makes a really creepy killer, and Vince Vaughn is also passable as Lopez's cohort.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this movie above all others. It's more of a way to pass time. Still, it is a pretty original idea with some impressive scenes. Also starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Empty calories.

[suzy q123 · 1/10 · 17 May 2001]

Featuring lines such as "I'm gonna catch the see-ree-uhhl kill-ah",

spoken in some bizarre brooklynese, this big eye catching mess is a

great way to waste a few hours, if you're on drugs. Unfortunately I was

straight when I saw this, and wished I'd been anywhere else. But it's

certainly got color and zip, like one big long really long extra long

commercial. All style and no substance. Skip it.

Together in dreams...

[Red-Barracuda · 9/10 · 7 August 2012]

In this sci-fi thriller a child psychiatrist is experimenting with a new technology that allows for one person to enter another's mind. Meanwhile, the FBI catches a serial killer who has fallen into a coma. The psychiatrist is tasked with entering his mind in order to find the whereabouts of a girl he has captured and left in a deadly torture cell.

This is essentially a serial killer film with a very original angle. The science fiction element is really there purely as a means to allow us to enter the subconscious dream world of the killer. It's here where the movie departs from other films of the same genre. It's also here where The Cell truly marks itself out as a memorable movie. The story isn't all that strong but the look and feel of the dream-world is where this one scores. Visually, it's extremely good, with an especially well-used widescreen frame, and beautiful use of colour. The subconscious worlds are by turns surreal, beautiful and creepy. It is without a doubt the fantastic cinematography, set-design, costumes and lighting that are the strengths of this film.

As a means of trying to discover the whereabouts of the trapped girl, the psychiatrist tries to make a connection with the killer. In doing so she realises that he has a good and bad side. The good being his younger self before he became twisted as a result of abuse. It's an unusual angle to attempt to empathise with a serial murderer. Usually audiences are never asked to and I suppose it's an interesting difference. However, it's not an idea that 100% works though as no matter the childhood traumas it's quite difficult sympathising with a man who abducts, tortures and kills young women. This aside though, The Cell remains a highly stylish thriller, whose visual brilliance alone is enough reason for it to be considered a triumph.