Dropping directly into the soup of dreams that is Amazon Prime in the UK, the timing of the exhuming of this unpopular Stephen King adaptation is questionable; events have overtaken the narrative of King’s 2006 book, and not in a good way. Tod Williams’ film makes a direct connection between a worldwide contagion/pandemic and radio-masts, with several scenes depicting characters blowing-up transmitters to set themselves free. The conspiracy theories around 5G make Cell’s content somewhat prescient, but it worth noting that there is no scientific evidence that such a connection could remotely be true.
Cell’s best scene is the opener, in which Clay (John Cusack) watches in horror as an airport lounge disintegrates from civilisation to raw cannibalism in a matter of seconds, a plague affecting only those using their cell-phones. Clay’s phone has run out of battery power at the key moment, and his futile search for a charging point is a clever way to suggest the resourceful way he’ll try to survive, much as John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids sees a patient recovering from an eye operation who is accidentally protected from blinding solar flares.
Clay and his new friend Tom (Samuel L Jackson) swiftly leg it to the countryside, hoping to find Clay’s son and picking up a few stragglers along the way. They end up driving an ice-cream van, another elements lifted from Triffids, and an episodic narrative sees them encounter various enclaves, including Stacy Keach as a headmaster with a sport-field full of zombies in need of ignition.
King himself is listed as one of the co-writers on the screenplay, and there’s lots of evidence of his style here; the way the zombies embody recognisable figures from Clay’s past is toyed with effectively, although his cartoonist past doesn’t land so well. At least the revised ending, which has a metaphorical strength in terms of depicting herd mentalities, packs a punch. And yet there’s also real lapses of pace and judgement, with little tension and a feeling that some key scenes are not included in this final cut.
Cell is something of a curio in that it happens to accurately describe events far beyond most people’s imaginings circa 2016. While not the best work of anyone involved, Cell’s stock rises as an outlandish cartoon version of a real tragedy. As long as you can retain your understanding of the difference between fact and fiction, it’s a decent little slice of apocalyptic melodrama with a relevant message.
I wasn’t bored, but there’s something herky-jerky about the way the plot unfolds that’s frustrating. With something of a gap between what governments are saying and doing, it’s fertile ground for conspiracy theories, so Cell may well get a new lease of life; important to mark it as fiction and enjoy as a post-apocalypicic romp.
I had to do a double take because I thought this was a remake of the 2000 The Cell. Not so much, eh? 😀
No, but me must always be vigilant for a remake of that Jennifer Lopez vehicle. In fact, for any remakes of Jennifer Lopez vehicles. You can never be complacent about these things.
I know I read the book but I don’t think I saw this. Though I seem to remember something like it. Maybe it’s the mix of familiar elements. Zombie apocalypse meets J-horror technophobia. I’ll have to look for it when the libraries open again. No streaming services here!