Unofficial Synopsis
A serial killer is on the loose and randomly kidnapping women, putting them in torture chambers and watching them slowly drown over a period of days. FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) wants to get to the killer before he adds another victim to his list. After finally catching him, or rather finding him in a nearly comatose state, Novak seeks the help of Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez), a social worker trying out a new experimental method of transporting herself into the minds of those who need help, to get into the mind of the killer to locate the kidnapped woman before his hapless victim drowns inside a torture chamber.
{media load=media,id=3416,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
To be quite honest, The Cell is a shallow story with limited details of the technology used to get inside minds, light on the character development and is hell bent on spending more time on visuals than substance. Director Tarsem Singh, known for The Fall (a masterpiece of art on film), probably knew what he wanted before the first reel of film was put in the camera.
The film starts by introducing Catherine during a mind session. She is roaming inside a comatose boy’s dreams trying to get him back to his parents. From the short trip, we see that Catherine is a caring soul, who does her best to set things right, even in the midst of some small amounts of horror that the boy shows.
At that same instance, we’re also given a taste of the technology that is used to allow Catherine to help her with her social work cases. While there isn’t much of a strong explanation of how the tech works, how it came to be and why it works the way it does, we’re just asked to assume it’s going to be okay. That’s a bit of a snag, as we’re not given much rhyme or reason on the methods, rather it’s just a transportation device for director Tarsem Singh to show off his visual world filled with wide shots, color and plenty of gorgeous costumes.
In short, it’s a device to push story elements along and give reason to make the cinematography exquisite.
As the story progresses, we get our first glimpse at the story’s serial killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D’Onforio), and how sick he is as he stretches the boundaries of true human horror when it comes to torturing his victims. The story doesn’t pull punches with how incredibly screwed up this guy, as our first taste (maybe wrong choice of words here) has him hooking himself up to some chains, via giant metal loops pierced through his back, and proceeds to ‘please himself’ over a dead body.
Helluva way to establish a character, right?
Of course, next in line with introductions is Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn) and his band of untouchables (wrong movie, sorry). We get a small bit of details about Novak through his obvious actions, as he separates his methods, personality and overall motives from the rest of the FBI group. He is a special character that is later revealed to have been in this situation before, and provides motivation for him to avoid losing another victim to another serial killer.
Ultimately, when Carl gets caught early in the story (not a spoiler), regardless of the characters and how far they are away from each other in the world, the story forces Novak to seek Catherine’s help to get into Carl’s mind before the new victim dies inside Carl’s torture chamber. I think this is the portion of the film where I just rolled my eyes a bit because up to this point there was zero connection between what Catherine was doing and what the FBI needed. Two different worlds that didn’t have a solid bridge to stand on when it came to connecting their two respectful lands. The connection between the two was a ‘Oh, yeah. I know this thing that these people do with this new technology — how convenient, right?’. Again, there was no connection other than ‘need’ between the two worlds of Catherine and Peter. It was a shallow, almost ugly connection in the movie, but writers and director didn’t seem to mind it or the details to make that crossing smooth. They just needed a vessel for visuals.
Again, I can dig that reasoning for this film, but wow this story could have been so pivotal and exist quite well with the visuals that came along with it.
What you get in the film and what the focus is for nearly 60% of the movie is a chance for Tarsem Singh’s moving artwork to take center stage. And the methods used for the cinematography, costumes, editing and even some special effects truly makes this movie worth the watch. For example, when you see Carl step into the shadows with only his legs revealed in the shot, then a secondary Carl, bald sans the lone hair hardened into horns while he yells in a deep commanding voice at Catherine, that shit is stunning to watch — if not a bit horrifying. It’s all art on the screen. Moving art that overshadows the need for a cohesive, deep, thrilling story. Of course, that doesn’t make this movie great, but it certainly makes it entertaining for the eyes.
Is that enough for you? Only you can judge that, but for me, I’m a big softy for good cinematography, especially for anyone that respects a good wide shot (see The Fall and The Secret of Walter Mitty for details of that passion). In the end, The Cell doesn’t have a thrilling story of epic proportions, but it does soften the story’s absence with prettiness.
Speaking of visuals, the Blu-ray transfer of this fifteen year old film is not that bad, though I’ve certainly seen better from Warner Home Video. There is some noticeable graininess in the picture, as well as some artifacts in the darker scenes. You can tell this is better than the DVD release, but there are some clear imperfections from the get-go in the first scene with Catherine walking through the desert (artifacts and graininess in the blue sky and background around her). Still, the visuals are so beautiful that they help alleviate these little issues. Ultimately, not the best transfer, but certainly not the worst I’ve seen on re-released movies on the Blu-ray format (20th Century Fox’s Rain Man still is #1).
On the special features sides, here’s what you get:
– Director’s Commentary
– Commentary from Production Team
– Style as Substance: Reflections on Tarsem
– Visual Effects Vignettes
– Deleted Scenes
– Trailers
Yes, this is rehashed material, but it’s still valid for this release. Most re-releases from other studios don’t even get this type of stuff on Blu-ray. Anyway, the features are solid, they’re interesting and at least they don’t beat around the bush when it comes to the real drive for this movie — the visuals. Good stuff overall, though.