The Cell (2000)
Found out about this film after watching The Fall, it made me think of Inception, and I couldn’t sleep all night. So here we are, reviewing
Now, I will be the first to admit that watching this film when you can’t sleep is a SERIOUSLY BAD IDEA. Learn from my mistakes, children, and don’t do it. Of course, I do get frightened really easily so… *clears throat* Anyway the film is about a new experimental technology that allows people to enter the minds of coma patients and try to wake them up. The story revolves around one such person, Katherine (Jennifer Lopez), entering the mind of a serial killer/rapist/seriously fucked up dude in order to find out the location of his latest victim.
Now, for those who have seen The Fall, you will know that Tarsem has amazing imagery, and is not afraid to use graphic shots to move his story along. Yea… this is so true for this movie… It could be because I am interested in dreams and dreaming to an unhealthy level, I will admit, but some of the imagery really freaked me out. And the method that the killer used on his victims? Probably my worst NIGHTMARE for how to go so… if you don’t like water much you might want to avoid this film for your own sanity.
Also, I have nothing against the actors in this film at all, but I never seek them out and usually avoid films which they’re in. Don’t make that mistake, both Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn are very good in this film as dream-jumper (can’t really link her to any Inception gig since she just sort of walks around in there) and detective respectively. I very nearly didn’t watch one of my (now) favourite films due to an actor I didn’t like, so unless you have some seriously funky vendetta against either of them, go into this film with an open mind (ah, puns).
The film is made rather well, actually, choosing to play off nightmares instead of dreams (which makes perfect sense considering whose MIND they’re in) and reminds me quite a few movies at once including the afore-mentioned two as well as The Matrix and Minority Report. The dialogue is well written and I didn’t find the acting over-the-top which is a miracle considering the genre and its inviting arms of “come and over-act me”.
The shots are very Tarsem… very artistic, slow motion, epic landscapes… but just like with The Fall, they never overpower the storyline or the acting. They act as a backdrop, just as they should. The music is written by Howard Shore, which really surprised me, but has many influences of Hans Zimmer and Krishna Levy; or, it might be accurate to say, they potentially used this film as influence for their work later on. Whatever way you look at it, the music fits the atmosphere and the film perfectly.
I would agree with IMDB on this one and give it a 6/10. It scared the BEJESUS out of me, but as I said I get scared easily and my interest in dreams and dreaming borders on the unhealthy. I would NOT recommend this to people who are scared of water or enclosed spaces. You may freak out. But for those who are fans of sci-fi and good film making and aren’t scared of shadows like I am, you might really enjoy this. Also, as I said at the beginning, don’t watch this when you can’t sleep… it’ll only make trying to sleep harder later.
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