Success of The Silence of the Lambs revealed demand for films about serial killers. Hollywood was more than eager to react with flood of similar films and, later, television shows, thus creating one of the more lasting trends of 1990s. By the end of the decade, however, it seemed that creative potentials were exhausted and that Hollywood can’t cover that subject or use that motive in original way. In 2000 The Cell, 2000 film directed by Tarsem Singh, has shown that it wasn’t the case.
The plot is set in very near future, when the virtual technology advanced enough for the psychotherapists to enter subconscious mind of their patients and thus discover the cause of their traumas. Protagonist is Dr. Catherine Deane (played by Jennifer Lopez), one of such psychotherapists who, with the help of their associates Henry West (played by Dylan Baker) and Dr. Miriam Kent (played by Marianne Jeanne-Baptiste), is spending months trying to cure catatonic boy Edward Baines (played by Colton James). Her bosses, frustrated with the lack of progress, are planning to shut down her experimental program. Before that happens her team is approached by two FBI agents – Peter Novak (played by Vince Vaughn) and Gordon Ramsey (played by Jake Weber) – who are in desperate need of her assistance. After months of investigation they have managed to catch Carl Stargher (played by Vincent D’Onofrio), vicious serial killer which had killed seven women. The problem is that he abducted Julia Hickson (played by Tara Subkoff), a woman who would certainly die if not located on time. Stargher, however, can’t give her location because he too fell into catatonic state. Dr. Deane volunteers to enter Stargher’s mind and try to find the information. But even such experienced therapist like her isn’tquite prepared to face the horrors hidden in the sick mind of serial killer.
The Cell represented feature debut for Tarsem Singh, director who had made his name with music videos in 1990s, most notably “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. (which is briefly referenced in this film). Tarsem Singh shows great care for visual details, but his style is very different from most authors who owe their careers to MTV. Tarsem Singh shows great talent and a lot of imagination and the scenes which illustrate fantastic landscapes you might encounter in someone else’s subconscious mind are some of the most impressive you could find in the Hollywood films at the time. They include deserts, swamps, cellars and rather prosaic traumas from someone’s early childhood.
However, it is not the visual style but the script by Mark Protosevich that makes The Cell look refreshing. A lot of serial killer films cliches are removed or inverted. What is traditionally the most exciting element of such stories – finding identity and catching the killer – is settled at the very beginning. So, there aren’t any usual scenes that involve chases, fistfights or shoot outs. Protosevich knows that the viewers are going to be much more intrigued by what is actually going in killer’s mind. He also strays from the cliches by not having the antagonist with superb intelligence, wealth or time enough to set complex riddles or manipulates law enforcement. Stargher is instead shown as ordinary and not particularly bright man with blue collar background who would, under normal circumstances, be object of pity rather than fear. Protosevich and Singh cleverly describe him both as frighetning monster and as helpless abused boy.
Thus intriguing idea, however, didn’t inoculate The Cell from other cliches and certain unofficial rules of mainstream Hollywood. Lead scientist at ambitious project must look attractive enough to be played by one of Hollywood sex symbols; her project must be under threat of shutdown and, finally, she must parade through minds of her patients dressed in various exotic costumes. At the end of the day, even mental battles must have physical component and FBI agent would be forced to save Dr. Deane as damsel in distress. Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn, while adequate, don’t provide memorable performances and even always reliable Vincent D’Onofrio had better moments in his career. On the other hand, it would be unfair to treat The Cell as failure. Tarsem Singh has managed to evade most cliches and deliver something that looks original into mainstream Hollywood film. That is an achievement that many of his colleagues failed to make.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
