Review of The Cell (2000) by Jon S — 10 Feb 2010

Many of the reviews have focused on the superb imagery and criticize the film for falling short on plot or dialogue.

However, the "main plot", of Deane entering the mind of Stargher in order to find out where his latest victim is being held, becomes the sub-plot. In fact it does not take long for the FBI agent to find the only clue in Stargher's mind that connects the victim with a possible location. Instead the main interest is all about the interplay between Stargher as an innocent Boy and the mindscape of Stargher's darker antithesis (known as King Stargher).

Deane challenges herself to win the trust of the Boy who she encounters when entering Stargher's dark mind, with the main purpose of learning more about the victim who will die if not rescued in reality. The Boy flees within the twisted realm of King Stargher's mindscape, and is always eventually hunted down. Deane herself is overcome and has to be rescued; it consequently dawns on her that the only way to protect herself and the Boy is to bring Stargher into her own mind by reversing the connection.

Once Stargher is within her mind, Deane's focus shifts to saving the boy. She seeks to save his innocence by slaying King Stargher, who relentlessly pursues him. However it dawns on Deane that even though she has the power in her mind to strike at King Stargher, whatever she inflicts, she inflicts on both the Boy and the King - who are incarnations of the same being. A bloodied King Stargher mockingly taunts Deane: "It's not real, you cannot kill me. Me got boy". The facial expressions of Jennifer Lopez are masterful at this point.

When Deane tries to intervene when the boy Stargher is abused by his father, she seems powerless to. She cannot alter in Stargher's mind the truth of events which must be at the route of King Stargher's birth and gradual dominance over the mindscape. This is why, before Deane kills the Boy, she says "You can stay here with me" - in her own mindscape. She lays him to rest in a place of love, a place that did not exist to be found within his own mindscape. The symbolism of the boy being "baptised" in water, whilst the King is being baptised "in blood" is perversely both beautiful and chilling.

Earlier in the film, the scientists explain that if the hosts believe strongly enough in what is happening within their minds is real, it can affect their actual bodies. Whilst in Stargher's mind, Deane learns of a time when Stargher drowned an injured bird to spare it from suffering at his father's hands. Symbolism connected with this event reoccurs pervasively in Stargher's dreamscape. The squawks of the birds could be substituted for announcements of mercy without being out of context. Only in Deane's mindscape could her act of Euthanasia succeed; the innocence within Stargher be spared.

The Cell is not a reference to the victim trapped in a tank of water, it is a reference to the good and innocence within Stargher being imprisoned in a dark, twisted and scary mindscape. Whilst Deane releases the good Stargher from his cell (his own mind), simultaneously Starghers victim in real life is saved. This coincidence was not an accident. Rather than being shallow, I believe The Cell is complex. It is a film that I will always remember.