Viking Night: The Cell
By Bruce Hall
December 1, 2016
BoxOfficeProphets.com
“Is there dancing? Does someone fall headfirst into an outhouse? Why are J-Lo and that guy from Wedding Crashers in this?”
That's what makes it fun to watch actors in films made when their careers were on wildly different trajectories than they are today. Jennifer Lopez is an enormously successful entertainer, best known for her singing and dancing. But she's also a credible actress, having scored an early breakout hit (Selena) and held her own opposite some very big names (Edward James Olmos, Sean Penn... Scott Bakula…). I'm pretty certain Vince Vaughn hasn't missed any house payments recently, but...let's just say 2005 was a long time ago.
Meanwhile, Jean-Baptiste and D'Onofrio remain names that suggest a certain level of quality. For me, D'Onofrio was the difference between “How cute, they're doing a show about Daredevil” and “Holy shit - I HAVE to see that.” But I wouldn't sleep on Lopez - or Vaughn. She's legitimately multitalented, and while his distinctive delivery will probably continue to limit him to comedic roles, I do hear talk of a Dodgeball sequel, so there's always that. But back in 2000, their paths crossed, and the result was a pretty good, pretty underrated movie called The Cell.
It's a pretty straightforward setup. Catherine Deane (Lopez) is a psychologist working on an experimental treatment for coma patients. It involves connecting doctor and patient via slick looking bio-electric body suits that look like something that would happen if David Cronenberg directed a sequel to Tron. Her current work involves trying to revive a billionaire's young son, but there's been no success. Catherine invests herself deeply in her work, and has a reputation for developing strong emotional and intellectual connections with people - whether they're her patients or not.
Peter Novak (Vaughn) is an FBI agent who specializes in tracking down serial killers. His current case involves a man named Stargher (D'Onofrio), who specializes in kidnapping and murdering young women. Stargher is a sickeningly violent man who suffers from a rare form of schizophrenia. His mind is home to a cornucopia of deranged horrors, and if there were a machine that allowed you to go inside his head and watch the carnival, you'd probably never stop screaming. So, if such a machine existed, you would totally not want to use it on this man.
Although if it came with wicked bio-electric bodysuits, I could be tempted to give it a spin.
Lucky for me, that's Catherine's job. Spoiler alert - Novak gets his man, and actually closes the net on Stargher by the end of the first act. Unfortunately, the ticking time bomb that was the killer's brain disease goes off, rendering him a vegetable. Only, doctors say his mind is still active - sort of - somewhere inside this homicidal husk of a man. That's where Catherine and her team come in. Oh, did I mention that Stargher's preferred murder method is to slowly drown his victims inside a Bond villianesque shark tank contraption? In fact, there's a hard metal basin, bowl and bed in there. One might call it a “cell” …of sorts. In fact, it's quite possible this is where the title of the movie comes from.
Either that, or it refers to the gorgeous way Tarsem Singh frames his shots. This was his first film, and he doesn't seem to have worked a lot since then. However, with The Cell, he creates a tantalizing, continuous tapestry of haunting claustrophobia and colorful emotional dreamscapes. I know, that sounds like the translated lyrics of a Japanese glam rock band. But I can't think of any other way to describe it without taking up the next two hours of your time. Catherine's treatment essentially puts her into the subconscious mind of her patient, and the result is an Alice in Wonderland style universe that takes on the character of its owner.
And in this case, its owner is a paranoid schizophrenic murder machine who spends his evenings hanging from the ceiling, watching video of his victims. Stargher's coma is permanent, but a victim of his remains alive, and Catherine has limited time to learn - from what remnants remain of the killer's mind - where she is. When we're in Stargher's mind, very little is what it seems, and the laws of physics do not necessarily apply. And yet on the outside, Tarsem Singh's absolutely gorgeous camera work lets the sense of enclosure persist. Not by filming in enclosed spaces, necessarily - although he occasionally does.
It's mainly by ensuring that almost every shot is framed in a way that feels geometric, yet oddly organic as well. It's like watching light dance across a beautiful painting. The Cell is a beautiful looking film, but it's also an oddly affecting one. There's little about Catherine's arc that gives us much reason to feel sympathetic toward her. That falls almost entirely to Lopez' delivery, and I think there's little doubt she makes me care - albeit only a little - about what could just as easily have been an especially ludicrous episode of Doctor Who. She didn't have to put as much heart into the role as she does, and the film is the better for it.
Vaughn acquits himself well enough, although I've never been entirely sold on him as a dramatic actor. It's not that he doesn't have the chops; it's the fact that he can't quite lose that quirky frat-boy lisp that serves him so well when it's time to dodge a wrench. Still, there's an especially illuminating scene around the midpoint of the film that provides us with all the background that's necessary to understand his character. And - thanks to those aforementioned juvenile qualities, it (mostly) sinks in.
There is an unusually strong emotional thread running through The Cell, with is more rare than it should be among psychological thrillers. No, I'm not saying it's Brian's Song or anything. I just mean that due to the subject matter, this was never going to work as a run of the mill police procedural. The inside of Stargher's mind is more or less what you'd get if Marylyn Manson and H.P. Lovecraft decided to make a music video. The Cell would have to create a unique world for itself, and I believe it succeeds. It's a world of pain and mirrors and blood and sorrow and crimson bio-electric bodysuits. But most of all, it's a world of lost souls looking for the way back to “normal”. In a relatively rare move, The Cell does ask you to have some measure of pity for a man who would have you believe he never had a shot at becoming anything other than what he is.
And as I've already implied, D'Onofrio is ideal for it. He's all half Jeffrey Dahmer, half John Hinckley, half Billy Corgan when-he-had-hair. Very creepy.
A lot of people really, really hate this film for all the same reasons I really enjoy it. Come to think of it, that's one of the reasons I enjoy it. Whether you come down on the Love Side or the Hate Side, films this polarizing are more often than not, worth experiencing just to be part of the argument. That said, I come down on the “Really Likes” side, because I'm the guy who always finds three ways to look at a thing. Also, the experience of watching The Cell is unique enough that I'm almost forced to recommend it on that merit alone. If that's not enough, while you're watching it, imagine Owen Wilson instead of J-Lo.
It changes EVERYTHING.