Directed by: Tod Williams
Written by: Adam Alleca, Stephen King
Some of the cast is: John Cusack as Clay Riddell, Samuel L. Jackson as Tom McCourt, Isabelle Fuhrman as Alice Maxewell, Owen Teague as Jordan, Stacy Keach as Charles Ardai, Anthony Reynolds as Ray, Erin Elizabeth as Denise and Joshua Mikel as Raggedy.
What do you do when the one device you use to call for help is the thing you need saving from? In June 2016, something used our phones to contact us, luckily, Clay (Cusack) missed the call.
After a strange signal travels through the cell phone network, people all over the world (the ones that were using their cell phones at the time) suddenly turned and started attacking everyone around them. The world was quickly thrown into chaos by the electronic madness. Luckily, not everyone was using their phone when it happened. Unfortunately, those same “lucky” people are now being chased down by the growing number of crazies called “phoners”.
Clay, one of the survivors, has one thing on his mind, getting back home to his son. After Clay finds a few more survivors, they decide to travel with Clay (safety in numbers) and help him get to his son. All they have to do is make it past the hordes of phoners lurking around every corner and they’ll be home free.
This film was one of those projects that was slow getting off the ground. Back in 2006, Dimension Films announced they had bought the rights to the film and that Eli Roth would be directing it. Dimension also announced that the film would be out in 2009. Well, along the way the film saw a few hiccups. Like, Dimension Films being incorporated into another company and the new company dropping the project. Eventually, another company picked the movie up, writers were hard at work… then new writers were asked to work on it. Other than that, not a lot seemed to be happening with the film.
Then, in 2009, Eli Roth stepped down as the director saying it was due to “creative differences” between his vision of the film and the production company’s vision. Now, I’m not a big fan of Roth’s work, but after watching this one, a touch of Roth might have actually helped. Fast forward to 2013, the main cast and director was picked. Fast forward one last time and… we get Cell. Ten years, you would think with that kind of timeline to smooth things out the film would have turned out better. Nope!
The screenplay was written by Stephen King and Adam Alleca, which was based off of the book Cell (2006) by Stephen King. Apparently, people didn’t like the way the book ended, so King changed the ending of the movie from the book. Now, I’ve not read the book, but I am a big fan of films or stories that turn our technology against us.
I’m intrigued/kind of scared by the stories that remind us how we rely so heavily on tech in our day-to-day lives and that the one thing we “need” turns out to be our downfall. Not that I ever want something like that to happen, because being killed by my PlayStation would suck! However, there have been a few good stories about such things. Look at Maximum Overdrive (1986) where people were held hostage by vehicles. The only reason the machines kept a few humans alive was so they could fuel up the cars and trucks… that then went around killing any other humans they found.
So, what makes Cell different from all of the other films with the same idea? Most of the other ones were good. Somehow the master of horror (King) was able to write a screenplay, for a book he wrote, and make it the most boring horror film I’ve ever watched. Yeah, the idea behind the story is cool, but I think they could have told the “we’re all too attached to our phones/tech” message in a shorter running time. Now, King does comes up with a nice twist that makes the bad guys more than your typical “mindless killing fiends,” but that’s where all the greatness ends.
A big problem I had with the story was that a few questions were asked, but never answered. Even some big questions like, who is the (mysterious) main bad guy and how is the main character (Clay) tied into the pulse? Questions you think would be answered by the time the credits rolled, because it effects the story. I guess King and Alleca felt those were unnecessary questions to answer and that the audience would be so lost in the richness of the story we wouldn’t notice.
The playthrough is a mix of short chases and long walks that when put together makes up a boring thrill-less film. The opening of the movie is misleading, because the signal hits and people are fighting for their lives, but after the main character escapes things slow down to a crawl. I thought this was going to be about fighting off the crazies like Dawn of the Dead (2004), with fear and terror lurking around every corner. Instead, you get three people dragging their heels as they travel around, and it never feels like they’re in any real danger.
With two big name stars, Cusack and Jackson, in a film you would expect some good acting, because both guys have shown they’ve got talent. Unfortunately, Cusack seems to be giving the bare minimum in his films lately, and this one is no different. Maybe if there were some motherf**king snakes in this movie Jackson would have put a bit more effort into his character, because here his character seems about as bored being in the film as I was watching it.
By the size of Keach’s role, I can only assume he did this as a favor, or really needed the money. Either way, poor Keach… The best acting came from Fuhrman, Teague and Reynolds. Fuhrman and Teague sold their scenes and Reynolds’s character (as briefly as he was in it) was the only one to bring a bit of liveliness to the film.
The special effects flip back and forth from good to bad throughout the film. Since the phoners are still living beings, there’s not a lot of effects used on them, unlike zombies that have rotting or torn flesh for a look. The infected get some blood thrown on them and are sent off to wonder around in the movie. When the main bad guy pops up you finally get to see someone’s make-up skills, because he’s really messed up looking, and it looks really good. Then there’s the CGI effects that don’t blend well and stand out in every scene.
Side note: If you haven’t heard of the film before now don’t be surprised. It was released June 10 (2016) to VOD (video on demand), prior to a limited release scheduled for July 8 (2016). So, it’s not had a lot of chances to really catch people’s attention.
Overall, for the few people that have seen this one, sorry. For those that haven’t, don’t even worry about it. Horror and King fans that need a fix, there are plenty of other films out there actually worth your time.
