Cell locks down viewers; tosses out the key

Daily Film Editor

Serial killers tend to be one of the more popular subjects for movies and lately the majority of the films about this topic have been nothing short of atrocious. The setup is often the same - see a victim die, see the police worry, see the killer capture another victim, see the killer torture the victim, play cat and mouse for 90 minutes and bada-bing you've got a movie. "The Cell" makes little exception to this formula, with its twist being that psychotherapist Catharine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) enters the killer's mind through some virtual-reality type machine to find the location of the latest victim, who just maybe - is still alive.

One of the main problems with this movie is that the killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) is caught pretty much from the get go, which reduces much of the potential for suspense. Stargher is also an underdeveloped character such to the point that we could really care less about him or his victims. In addition, there's really never much of a doubt as to how the film is going to end - by capturing the killer so early on the makers painted themselves into an inescapable corner.

Lopez does an adequate job with her role but shows nowhere near the vitality and feistiness that she brought to her character in "Out of Sight." As the actress continues to dabble in other forms of entertainment it's beginning to seem as if that role will be the lone highlight in her acting career.

More disturbing is the performance of Vince Vaughn as the man heading up the FBI group in charge of the case. Vaughn looks stale and uncomfortable whenever he's onscreen and always seems to be in a hurry to say his lines as soon as possible. He just doesn't seem at ease with his character and it's looking more and more as if he'll never recapture the magic of his playful turn as the coolest of the cool in "Swingers."

Also appearing in small and underwritten roles (read - they needed the money) are Dylan Baker ("Happiness"), Jake Weber ("Meet Joe Black") and Marianne Jean-Baptiste ("Secrets and Lies").

This film's initial setup and the alternate worlds that we enter throughout the story afford first-time director Tarsem Singh plenty of chances to get generous with the camera movements and scenery - something he never takes full advantage of.

Singh and the others behind the film throw every trick in the book at us including swinging the camera around and playing with the film speed and sound, but none of this seems to further the story or the film. And in the end the film's concept is much more interesting than the finished product. So if you're bent on entering the mind of a serial killer, let Dr. Hannibal Lecter be your tour guide and rent "The Silence of the Lambs."

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

Jennifer Lopez stars as Catharine Deane in "The Cell."