The Cell

Imagine what it would be like if you could enter someone else's mind and walk around inside it interacting with the person as if in some kind of virtual reality. You would get to see their deepest secrets and darkest fantasies. It would probably be like dreaming, except you'd be dreaming their dream in their world. If you were inside your best friends mind, it would probably be great fun. But what if it the subject of your investigation was a crazed serial killer? How much fun would it be then?

In The Cell, Jennifer Lopez plays Catherine Deane, a psychologist who, together with a team of scientists, has developed a technology which allows her to do just that; she can enter the mind of another person, and she can invite another person into her mind. As the film opens, the technique is being used in an attempt to help a little boy who is in a coma. In order to make contact with him, Catherine enters his mind and becomes his therapist in a dreamlike landscape which is the child's imagination. It is her hope that she can eventually lure him out of the coma and back into normal consciousness.

Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose; a killer whose demented torture and murder of young women is become increasingly bizarre and frequent. FBI agent Peter Novak and his team are on the verge of tracking the killer down, but unfortunately when they get to his apartment, they find him unconscious. This is only unfortunate because there is still one girl missing, and only the killer knows where she is. Novak knows that the killer has imprisoned her in a hidden cell that will automatically fill with water within 24 hours. She could be anywhere; the madman is in a coma; Novak is out of time and out of ideas. As luck would have it, one of the forensic scientists knows about Catherine's research, and in desperation, Novak makes a visit to the lab and tries to convince her to help him. Although she knows the risks involved in entering a madman's mind, her compassion for the girl gets the better of her and she agrees...

The Cell is a powerful and imaginative film. I found it extremely disturbing. The killer's method of drowning girls and turning them into dolls is shown in hideous graphic detail - this film is not for the faint-hearted. One of the first things I noticed was the film's powerful use of sound. Even in the 'real-world' sequences, the sound is out of this world and it's rare to see sound used quite so effectively. Maybe this is something to do with the fact that the director, Tarsem, is an acclaimed director of music videos. He certainly knows how to combine sound and images to good effect.

The Cell is a weird but fantastic film. Don't wait for it to come out on video. To experience it fully, it has to be seen on the big screen with a good sound system.