The Cell2000
The Cell (2000)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: The Cell offers disturbing, stunning eye candy, but it is undermined by a weak and shallow plotline that offers nothing new.
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Movie Info
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Cast
as Catherine Deane
as Peter Novak
as Carl Stargher
as Dr. Miriam Kent
as Gordon Ramsey
as Henry West
as Teddy Lee
as Lucien Baines
as Julia Hickson
as Young Carl Stargher
as Cole
as Anne Marie Vicksey
as Ella Baines
as Dr. Cooperman
as Edward Baines
as Mrs. Hickson
as Officer Alexander
as Swat Team Member
as FBI Technician
as FBI K-9 Agent
as Dr. Reid
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Victim
as Stargher's Father
as Woman in Tub
as Mother
as Mother
as Mother
as Helicopter Pilot
as Valentine
News & Interviews for The Cell
Critic Reviews for The Cell
All Critics (146) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (79) | DVD (12)
Lopez is hard to take as the empathetic psychologist who uses a synaptic transfer machine to penetrate the comatose killer's tortured psyche in hopes of finding his latest victim.
Tarsem uses the dramatically shallow plot to create a dream world densely packed with images of beauty and terror that cling to the memory even if you don't want them to.
The Cell becomes the first serial killer feature in a long time to take the genre in a new direction.
One of the best films of the year.
[The visuals are] just enough to recommend a movie that otherwise has nothing new to offer.
The trippy, highly mannered, widely referential imagery is certainly its strongest selling point, despite wonderfully grounding (and, on the rides, bizarre) work by Lopez.
Audience Reviews for The Cell
It is certainly a gorgeous film to look at but the plot is weakened by the fact that Jennifer Lopez is seriously miscast and not at all convincing as a psychiatrist well suited for her job, especially given how the character's motivations are so unprofessional and confusing in the last act.
Super Reviewer
Visually stunning but thematically scant take on what it would be like to enter another's psyche, in this case a serial (psycho/sexual) killer whose last victim is still trapped in a cell somewhere. Lopez and D'Onofrio are competent as antagonists delivering the drama but Vaughn is very good in this, his least Vaughn-like of roles.
Super Reviewer
I really do admire Tarsem's The Cell for it's amazing nightmare sequences. However, the hit-or-miss casting and lack of interest make this a lot worse than it theoretically should be. While Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn are fine on their own, this miscasting wasn't beneficial to either of their strengths. Thankfully Vincent D'Onofrio's complete tour-de-force makes the movie as intriguing as it is, making you want to see nothing but a two hour dream sequence with him being bizarre. The visuals are landmarks for their time, mainly because it avoids heavy CGI and focuses on optical illusions. When I think about it, these were some of the best "dream sequences" i've ever seen. They were so visually and stylistically unsettling and surreal.
Super Reviewer
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