Rish Outfield's reviews
In a lab someplace, an experimental technique allows child psychologist Jennifer Lopez to enter the mind of a disturbed child to try to reach him. When an immensely sick serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) is comatose after being caught by his pursuers (led by Vince Vaughan), Lopez must go into his mind to find out where his last abductee is being kept, before she too joins the killer's victim list.
It seems that one of the phrases I repeat in my reviews of particularly morbid or distasteful horror movies is "wholly unpleasant." I almost wish I had left the phrase in some of the reviews I edited it out of so I could use examples, but ah well. Though The Cell was pretty nasty, I'd have to say that it never quite reached the ‘wholly unpleasant' levels of Maniac or Last House on the Left. The things that made it less so were the plot, Jennifer Lopez's rather appealing face, and the fact that tyranist and I were back together watching a horror movie. Of course, the visuals were spectacular, the costumes unique, and the special effects fascinating. But it all got draining. It was overkill. There were too many alien environments. There were too many ‘gee whiz' visual moments. About halfway through, I began to forget about the coolness and just felt numb. I was assaulted with visuals that, for me, at least, distracted from the story, which I found extraordinarily cool. Of course, Vincent D'Onofrio's character was so thoroughly repugnant (and his mind so utterly incomprehensible) that he was a sort of alien too, and it got hard to see any of it as real. Some of it reminded me of the later "Elm Street" sequels, where I felt more work was spent on unique dream imagery than on trying to scare me or make me like the characters. I also got the feeling that good would definitely win, and so I became less interested in the struggle. When it finally ended, I felt empty--like I had just sat through a summer special effects movie rather than a horror film. But don't get me wrong, that's way better than whole unpleasantness.
Best Scare: At the beginning, in a child's mind, we see some rather frightening shape-shifting. Hey, it scared me.
I'd Recommend It To: Well, that's a bit difficult. I think that for some (people not as jaded as me, for example) it would indeed be ‘wholly unpleasant.' For other people, those who are turned on by the sick and perverse, they may get exactly what they're looking for here (or perhaps be left wanting, God help them). For fans of Lopez's work in Selena and Jack, I doubt they'll find enjoy The Cell. For those who see it just for the special effects, it might be neat, but heck, so was Tron when it came out. I think it's up to you on this one.

The tyranist's thoughts
It's unfortunate that I waited as long as I did to see this one in the theatre. We ended up watching it late at a second run theatre that had a very worn print. I think this diminished the visual impact of the movie, which forced me to pay more attention to the story line. Wait, maybe that was a good thing.
Most people I know saw this one almost exclusively for the visuals. The trailers promised some outstanding dream sequences that could rival some of the weird crap that Clive Barker has thrown up. I mean who didn't see Jennifer Lopez in that lacy black thing and want to see the movie? The story was completely inconsequential to these people. For the rest of you who don't see movies for the look but just for the movie, don't listen to them. Go see the movie for it's own merits. The idea of actually going into the mind of a serial killer to find his vicitim is really cool.
Jennifer Lopez is alright, not exceptional, but not bad by any means. She is adequate when she needs to be and stunning in the dream world. Vincent D'Onofrio was very, very good and Vince Vaughan wasn't too bad. I'd give this one high marks for what they managed to do. The bulk of the budget was obviously in creating some of those sets.
There's some pretty realistic, hard core gore in a couple spots, but really the movie isn't disturbing like it could have been. Clive Barker fans might even think it is weak. See it. For whatever reason you can think of, you owe it to yourself as a horror fan to at least check it out.