Movie Review - "Cell" 06/10/2016

This is a movie review for "Cell", released June 10, 2016.



Trailer

Cast
John Cusack ("1408" (2007) Mike Enslin, "Hot Tub Time Machine" (2010) Adam)          ... Clay Riddell
Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction" (1994) Jules Winnfield, "Jurassic Park" (1993) Arnold)      ... Tom McCourt
Isabelle Fuhrman ("The Hunger Games" (2012) Clove, "Hounddog" (2007) Grasshopper)       ... Alice Maxwell






Plot
A writer gets a big break with his graphic novel and tells his wife and son about it. He supposedly hasn't seen them in a while, living at an apartment instead of with them. When his cell phone dies, he goes to the pay phone. While at the pay phone, something happens to those that are using cell phones. The cell phone users go insane and are controlled by something from the cells. Everyone that was using a phone, not just holding it, is now a mindless zombie (more or less). How to survive this apocalypse is the major question. The second question, for writer Clay Riddell, is how to check/save his wife and son. He joins up with a man from the subway (Tom McCourt) and a neighbor in his apartment building (Alice Maxwell) to start the journey to check on his family and to survive the cell phone zombies.





Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.


3.5/5 - This was a good movie to make you think. However, the ending really messes with your mind. It is worse than 2010's "Inception" ending. Did Clay win or did he lose? Did he defeat the red hoodie sweater man or did he succumb? The movie does not tell. Without a definitive end, this movie rather sucks. The imagination during the movie (the users acting like a pack and using cell phone towers to help track their prey, the users infecting others with a radio frequency, etc) was amazing. The ending just doesn't cut it; the ending makes you feel like you have wasted your time because we don't get to hear if anything was successfully defended/defeated or if anyone survived.

As a Stephen King fan, I would recommend this movie. However I would also put in a warning saying that the ending is worse than others written by him.

I personally would not watch this again on my own, though I loved the imagination in it.




Addendum: My mister tried watching it with me but he fell asleep halfway through. "I tend to fall asleep during movies that suck," he said as I finished this review, "I guess it did suck."