User Reviews

'The Cell' is a journey into the mind of a serial killer and I mean this literally. The film is about the journey, about the world it shows during this journey, the destination does not really matter. In my opinion this journey through the mind gives such beautiful images other things do not really matter as long as they are not distracting. In fact, the story is pretty good.

We start with Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) in the mind of a catatonic boy. How this works exactly does not really matter, but it looks a lot like virtual reality. She and other scientist including Henry West (Dylan Baker) and Miriam Kent (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) believe that this method might work. Catherine enters the mind of the boy and speaks with him there, in a world that is completely created by the boy. She hopes she can let him do things that in the end will give results.

The real story then. A serial killer named Carl (Vincent D'Onofrio) just dumped the body of one of his victims. FBI Agents Ramsey (Jake Weber) and Novak (Vince Vaughn) are on this case. Another girl (Tara Subkoff) disappears and at that time, after forensic research on the dumped body, Carl can be traced and captured. Two problems occur. 1. Carl just went into a coma; he has been sick for a long time. 2. His house and the house with his last kidnapped victim are not at the same place. In a way this part of the story is pretty standard.

Things are about to get interesting again. To find out where the girl is, Catherine has to go into Carl's mind. This is dangerous for a lot of reasons. In short: Carl is unknown territory, schizophrenic and a serial killer. If Catherine starts believing Carl's mind is the real world then her mind can convince her body; she could die in the mind of Carl. A tape of how the last victim was killed, a fate this girl will have in about twenty hours, makes sure Catherine will try to get the location out of Carl's mind.

It is the journey through this sick mind that makes this film more than worth watching. Director Tarsem Singh, who did music videos before this, in a way goes back to these music videos. Every room in the imaginative world is another short clip that exists out of beautiful and sometimes haunting images. For me the visual style felt completely new, the way 'Three Kings' had a new visual style one year earlier. If something like that can make you like a film, 'The Cell' will not disappoint. But fans of the thriller and horror genre can like this film anyway. The story itself, without the great fantasy world, is good enough for that. I think you have to be a little open minded, of course events are not (yet) possible in our real world. Still, a very entertaining film with nice ideas that looks terrific.

A serial killer , Carl Stargher , has been kidnapping and murdering young women by letting them drown in a water filled cell . He is apprehended by the FBI , but is in a coma and his latest kidnap victim awaits in a cell timed to fill with water

Take a look at the above premise and you'll see that there's a very much seen it all before look to it . The magic of Mark Protosevich's script is that he changes a hoary old chestnut plot in to something quite different from what you're expecting . If I mentioned the plot involves a machine that allows a psychiatrist to enter the mind of Stargher then sets up a different film entirely

This wouldn;'t be enough to make THE CELL a different class of thriller but director Tarsem Singh creates a visually striking surreal thriller . The cinematography by Paul Laufer where opaque primary colours are to the fore is stunning but Singh doesn't let it end there , things like costume design where Stargher wanders around his idiosyncratic universe wearing opulent costumes does have a visual impact making this so much more than a run of a mill thriller

What stops THE CELL becoming a classic movie however is that you start becoming more and more aware that the whole movie revolves around the visuals rather than having a natural narrative . We see a third character , a FBI man enter Stargher's domain but this seems more like a contrived plot turn just to introduce the audience to more stunning but very disturbing moments

It should also be pointed out that this is a rather disturbing thriller with a atmosphere that is very depressing and that stops the film from being if not enjoyable , then involving . One scene where a FBI agent recounts a case where a paedophile beats a rap only to later cut out the heart of his victim will fill your heart with so much despair you might reach for the off button . You'll probably have to watch a massive amount of thrillers till you see another one as disconcerting as this one

This is a weird movie. The best thing you can say about it is that it's fairly original, especially the scenes taking place inside dream landscapes. Such moments in film are hard to capture but I found them well realised here, and pretty believable. The structure of the film is rather predictable, and there's a gritty vibe running through it the same as in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Detectives, including a surprisingly decent Vince Vaughn, are on the trail of a supremely sick serial killer, played to the hilt by a highly disturbing Vincent D'Onofrio. This guy has a fetish for kidnapping and trapping women in glass tanks that slowly fill with water, drowning them.

Eventually, the guy is caught, only to go into a coma. Thanks to a sci-fi element, scientists are able to enter the man's consciousness and now they need to find out where a girl is hidden…and the film runs with that premise. For a start, the imagination here is way out. The serial killer's mind is full of sickening imagery, and there's a central torture sequence that turned my stomach. Strong sauce indeed. Then there's a cast who actually do the material justice – including Dylan Baker's twitchy scientist, Jake Weber's serious fed and best of all Jennifer Lopez, as the smart, sassy and fearless heroine.

The film is suspenseful and twisted, as thrillers should be, and it kept me gripped until the very end. Looking back, I see it as one of the most atypical Hollywood films out there – and it benefits from this status. Recommended.

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.

Good visuals can save a bad movie. Film is a visual medium and the story isn't really all that important - I think that much of a movie's worth is in its rewatchability, and when rewatching you already know the story. What matters is the sensory experience. Pretty pictures, good music - those are the things that make or break the movie.

'The Cell' is strong on the visuals. Tarsem Singh is a master of production design: he brings to life visions, paintings, dreams. 'The Cell' has a wide array of color, exuberant costumes, imaginative settings, unsettling situations. It's got a horse that is sliced into five-inch steaks, it's got a man bound in golden chains, it's got a rendition of an Odd Nerdrum painting, it's got a Geisha costume in a desert with cherry blossoms raining.

Unfortunately it's also got Jennifer Lopez in the lead role, wooden as ever. The surreal sequences present themselves as a look inside a serial killer's twisted psyche, okay, so they're loaded with symbolism, but it rings somehow untrue, like it's too grandiose to be somebody's mind, especially somebody with no artistic ambitions or interests. It didn't feel personal, more like a collection of art with no connection or theme.

Seeing "The Cell" it's like seeing a very long Nine Inch Nails/ Marilyn Manson music video with a shoehorned serial killer story : While I have to admit that some of the images displayed in this movie are actually impressive or fascinating to look at (Some scenes depicting the mental world of the serial killer are both beautiful and disturbing) the truth is that the main plot of the film is not interesting at all, being mostly shallow and filled with many clichés and stereotypes that have been done too many times before. In fact, almost all the events that take place in "The Cell" seem just "excuses" in order to show lots of weird imagery, combined with some forced symbolism that actually doesn't have very much to do with the plot in order to give this a "deep" appearance.

Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn are pretty unconvincing in their respective roles, being the main reason of why I have hard time trying to care about their characters. Only Vincent D'Onofrio makes a decent effort in order to portray in a convincing his twisted character, despite all the amount of clichés concerning to the personality of the serial killer.

And that's the main reason of why "The Cell" doesn't work. If a movie doesn't have a good story and the characters are uninteresting, not even the best visuals can save it. The overall weakness of the plot ruins all the effect that the impressive images have, making this a shallow experience, despite all the violence and disturbing content. Unfortunately, the excessive focus in the style rather than in the substance seems to be a common characteristic of the movies directed by Tarsem Singh, were the splendid visuals are overshadowed by the extremely weak scripts. At least in "The Fall", I was able to care about the main characters, and the plot wasn't as boring and pretentious as in this movie.

Even with all the nightmarish content that it had "The Cell" was a forgettable experience for me.

This is one of the most beautiful horror films ever made. It is a dream to watch and a nightmare to consider. Jennifer Lopez is stunning in her role and is never out of character. She manages to be both strong and vulnerable at the same time. I just bought it on DVD, and the deleted scenes and the director's commentary are included. This is an artistic masterpiece and terrifying thriller, too. Don't miss it.

Catharine Deane is a psychotherapist who is part of a new treatment which allows her mind to enter the mind of her patients.

Her experience in this method takes an unexpected turn when an FBI agent comes to ask for help.

They had just tracked down Carl Stargher, whose fetish is to abduct women and place them in a secret area where they are kept until they are slowly drowned.

The killer has fallen into an irreversible coma which means he cannot confess where he has taken his latest victim.

Now Catherine must race against time to explore the twisted mind of the killer, but Stargher's damaged personality poses dangers...

Even though the film has some screaming plot-holes, one cannot deny that the film works on imagery alone. Once we enter the mind of the killer, the film really takes a turn for the better, and becomes very unnerving.

Singh knows how to use colours to a psychedelic effect, and the use of shadow and light would make Caligari envious.

Lopez is okay in her role, but beauty outweighs her performance as she whispers all her lines for no reason. Vaughn is good, but the film belongs to D'onofrio, he is fantastic as the killer and really makes the whole thing work.

The film loses it's pace a little at the end, but it would have been really hard to live up to the second act.

well worth seeing, even if you don't like the serial killer sub-genre, it's beautiful to look at.