The Cell [DVD] [2000]

The Cell is a director's film. It is extravagant and imaginative, bold in its use of color and textures captured by the lens. The subject explores the deep recesses of the mind of a serial killer and in doing so, takes liberties with the real and unreal. The end result is a fantastic cinema tapestry that would delight any artist. The movie is an interesting hybrid of genres. It's part science fiction, part crime story and part psychological thriller. Jennifer Lopez is Catherine Deane, a child psychologist working for an experimental research facility whose techniques involve mental teleportation, allowing doctor and patient to interface in the subconscious realm. Quirky indeed, but great food for sci-fi thought in our current cyber age. The premise allows for free artistic reign put to good use by Tarsem. Vincent D'Onofrio plays Carl Stargher, the psychotic killer who drowns his female victims in a cell chamber before transforming them into dolls to fulfill his sadistic fantasies... Stargher is captured early in the film but a coma prevents him from disclosing the whereabouts of his latest victim to the FBI team, led by Vince Vaughn. The imagery in costume, makeup and set design is both ornate and horrific in the mind sequences, making footage of the real world drab in comparison. The colors are lush and surreal and at times, I suspected David Lynch to be somewhere behind the scenes. Many visual comparisons could be made to Twin Peaks or the X-Files or other contemporary works that explore the dark forces of the unknown. The acting is secondary to production in this picture (with the exception of D'Onofrio). Stand here. Do this. Say this. The actors are just along for the ride on this one, although I will say that this is one vehicle that seems to fit Lopez to perfection as it magnifies the actress's dual persona of sultry woman and haut-couture diva. Since most of the compelling drama occurs in the mental realm, it is difficult to find much fault in the plot. After all, how can you critique imagination? The Cell is a visually mesmerizing and graphic film, intended for mature audiences.

Contrary to magazine, newspaper and TV reviews, and the quotes printed all over the DVD packaging, this is not all about Jenniffer Lopez dressing sexy and pouting.

Visionary director Tarsem Singh, who cut his teeth in TV commercials, has put together an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion. It's one of those few multi-genre movies that really hits the mark in all areas; Sci-fi, fantasy, and horriffic thriller are all woven beautifully together, to create a story that is gripping, captivating, and convincing.

J-Lo plays the role of Catherine, a psycho-therapist who's job is to literally enter the mind, and fantasy world, of children with serious mental illness, to try and help improve their quality of life.

When the FBI, on the hunt for an illusive serial killer, find their suspect in a coma, Catherine is asked to enter the dark, twisted fantasy world in his mind to try to determine where his next victim is being held in captivity.

Singh's unique visionary approach to setting, costume and general atmosphere make the story moving and frightening, but equally enticing - obscure and unnerving as some scenes are, they are also sometimes quite stunning, and it really makes it worth putting up with the chill-factor because you just want to see what happens next.

This is the only film I have seen that has honestly come close to feeling like a real-life dream/nightmare feels. It's got all the elements of twisted reality that you get from a strange dream, with out being too far-out and ridiculous.

"The Cell" is not a hugely gory or violent film, like "Saw" or "Hostel"....it's intelligent, and uses psychological trickery to keep you right on the edge of your seat. It would appeal both to people who like a good, suspenseful thriller, as well as anyone interested in dark, artistic fantasy as seen in films such as "Pan's Labrynth".

Careful use of CGI is combined with quality direction, a solid storyline and script, and is brilliantly executed by it's leading cast. Don't dismiss it just because it's J-Lo - you'd be really missing out...

Catherine Deane is a psychologist who is working on an experimental technique in which she enters into the subconscious of people who are comotose, she's been trying to help a young boy named Edward to wake out of a coma without much luck. Peter Novak from the FBI is on the case of a serial killer who drowns his victims and turns them into human dolls, when he and his team find the killer Carl Stargher, he is lying unconscious in his kitchen. With Carl being in an irreversible coma, they call on Catherine to enter the mind of the killer and try to find the location of his last victim who is in a glass room slowly filling with water. Catherine now has to explore Carl's twisted, fractured mind to find the location, but with Carl being a schizophrenic psychopath, his mind is a strange, scary and dangerous place to be.

Jennifer Lopez probably gives her best performance in The Cell, the only other performance that I quite liked was in Out Of Sight. She will never be a great actress, but when she appears in a strong film with good actors around her then she does okay. Vince Vaughn was pretty good as Peter Novak, it's a shame he's only really known as a comedy star these days because he's a very good serious actor when he wants to be. I think he's great in movies like Dodgeball, Old School and Wedding Crashers, but i'd highly recommend watching some of his films from the late '90s such as A Cool Dry Place, Return To Paradise and Clay Pigeons to see the potential he had before taking the easy, comedic route. Vincent D'Onofrio is superb as the unstable killer Carl Stargher, he's genuinely creepy but has the odd moment where you almost sympathise with his character. The supporting cast is great with many well known faces, Dylan Baker, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jake Weber, Dean Norris, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Peter Sarsgaard in an uncredited role as the final victims fiance all give excellent performances.

It's confidently directed by Tarsem Singh making his very first feature film, he has a visual style that's unique and spectacular. His next film called The Fall was every bit as visually stylish as The Cell, and any shortcomings The Cell may have had, the visuals more than make up for. It's probably the most beautiful horror film i've ever seen, the images, effects, make up and costumes when they're inside Carl's mind were phenominal. A lot of the images are taken from real life peices of art from people like Odd Nerdrum, Damien Hirst and H.R. Giger. The movie definitely benefits from watching it with the sound turned up loud, it has a great creepy soundtrack that is extremely effective in adding to the films overall creepiness.

The film had an impressive $33,000,000 budget, i'm sure a lot of that was spent on the visuals. It made an equally impressive $104,000,000 worldwide, but seems to have been forgotten and it's definitely an underrated movie. The dvd looks good but hopefully the fantastic visuals will be improved with a region 2 blu ray release. There's a commentary from director Tarsem Singh, deleted scenes, filmographies, isolated score, behind the scenes and trailers. The Cell is a very good film that fans of psychological horror should enjoy, but the imagery is the real winner and the film's worth buying for that alone.