In recent years, the moviegoing audience has gotten used to the cross-pollination of features films and music videos. The fast-paced video world of decadent art direction and non-sequitur imagery has been steadily edging into mainstream cinema for some time now -- witness the recent success of video directors turned filmmakers David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) and Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovitch). The directors who have made the leap from videos to stirring features have advanced as a force to be reckoned with; they have both the understanding of the importance of a good story and the fierce vision for imagery that made them successful on MTV in the first place. The Cell clearly puts its director, Tarsem Singh, into this league.
The story line is a tried and true classic of the crime thriller genre -- a journey into the mind of a psychopath. In the world of The Cell, however, the technology exists to make this journey literal. Vincent D’Onofrio plays Carl Stargher, an unresponsive killer who is hooked up to a machine that allows a young social worker (Jennifer Lopez) to enter his mind. As with all psychological thrillers, the risk of going too deep is always where the underlying tension is found; what a brilliant structure in which to showcase a vast visual imagination!
Singh readily steps up the challenge of transforming the subconscious mind of a killer into a rich visual landscape that is all at once enchanting and disturbing, beautiful and grotesque. Although there are some very good performances -- D’Onofrio delivers a terrifying portrayal of the deranged Stargher -- they are all secondary to the imagery. Like a trip into one of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings, The Cell continually evokes the disorienting feeling that the most evil bogeyman is always lurking around the corner.
That said, this movie is not going to entertain everyone. It is not for the faint of heart. It is probably going to be most easily accepted by the generation that grew up watching Marilyn Manson parading around sporting fake breasts and nailing himself to a cross. Or, more specifically, by the members of that generation who enjoyed watching that sort of thing. Yes, the narrative does have more content than a Marilyn Manson song, but for audience members who don’t enjoy the rapid-fire music-video aesthetic, the sensory assault that The Cell dishes out could easily seem like visual white noise.
But for those who are not prone to nightmares, The Cell is one of the most visually engaging thrillers in a long time.