The Cell review

From its stunning opening scenes of a white clad Jennifer Lopez atop a black stallion riding across a pristine desert at sunset, you know immediately this is the visual antithesis of The Blair Witch Project. At times The Cell resembles a commercial more than a film. First time director Tarsem Singh is best known for his music videos, in particular R.E.M's imaginative and enigmatic Losing My Religion, which at times it resembles in spirit and appearance.

The Cell is like Silence Of The Lambs on acid: a formulaic serial killer plot whose originality comes from its highly stylized look. Jennifer Lopez plays psychotherapist Catharine Deane who is endeavouring to cure a young boy in the early stages of schizophrenia by entering his mind by way of a pioneering technique. Vince Vaughn is an FBI agent, Peter Novak, in charge of a series of murders linked by the killer's MO of drowning then bleaching his female victims before dumping them.

Through his tyre tracks and the hair of his albino dog, the FBI are able to track down the killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), but not before he's abducted his latest victim Julia Hickson (Tara Subkoff) and taken her to his secret location where she's locked in a glass tank that slowly fills with water while a series of video cameras record his victims dying moments. The twist comes when they go to arrest Stargher and find him comatosed. Informed that his condition is such that there's no chance for the FBI to interrogate him regarding the whereabouts of Hickson, and knowing her time is running out, they implore the doctors for an answer. The only one is Deane, who might be able to enter the killer's mind and get him to reveal the location of the girl.

It is these moments, when Deane transports herself into the thoughts of others, that the film transcends its weary convention. Tarsem, along with costume designer Eiko Ishioka, production designer Tom Foden and cinematographer Paul Laufer, create a magical and at times gruesome world filled with vivid imagery and graphic symbolism. The mind of a sadistic psychopath is not a pleasant place and provides little refuge for the squeamish, furnishing The Cell with a wealth of grotesque and disturbing scenes.

When asked about his choice for his first movie, the director said he relished the opportunity to indulge his imagination and visual flair, even if it was at the expense of story and characterization. "There'll be plenty of time to do my My Dinner With Andre later on," Tarsem said.

The Cell won't trouble you with having to figure out what happens in the end, but before you get there it will have taken you on an hallucinogenic and absorbing trip.