Cellular based on the story by Larry Cohen - Seven out of 10

Cellular based on the story by Larry Cohen

Seven out of 10

Cellular has a premise that is so lame and ludicrous that you could reject the film from the very first moments…

And you should!

Having said that, the actors perform professionally, there are some good scenes in a film that has plenty of clichés, and the audience would often feel there is too much déjà vu.

Jessica Martin aka Kim Basinger is kidnapped by some villains, led by Ethan aka Jason Statham – we are used with the latter playing the good character, the one who saves the girl, the victim, but he is a monster in this movie.

We move on to the beach and we are entertained with the presence of Jessica Biel as Chloe and Chris Evans as Ryan, the hero of the motion picture, as they exchange boring lines of dialogue.

Indeed, Jessica Biel, Chris Evans and Jason Statham act together in a much better film, London, reviewed here: http://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/2017/04/note-on-london-written-and-directed-by.html

Chloe and Ryan discuss his lack of dedication and seriousness – just as he shows his upper half of the body, since he is not wearing a shirt, out in public and this seems rude, even if it is hot.

He states that he has meditated and he is aware of his flaws now and he has changed and is ready to prove it.

Chloe gives him some flyers to distribute and tells him to bring some t- shirts for a gig that would take place later.

As he drives his small SUV, Ryan receives a call from a stranger who is asking for help, desperate because she has been kidnapped and her family is in danger; she is worried about her son.

The young man thinks this could be a bad joke and says that if she were in danger she would have called the emergency number.

Jessica Martin is calling.

This actually seems to be the major flaw of the script, for even if that phone she is using has been out of service and we are talking ancient telephones here, before the smart ones we have become so used with, it still feels impossible to dial a random cellular number instead of the easier 911.

Anyway, she slowly tells her story, how her house cleaner had been killed earlier and therefore Ryan takes the phone to the police where he speaks with Sargent Bob Mooney aka William H. Macy.

The script has an abundance of incredible aspects and instead of the sergeant dealing seriously with this problem of kidnapping; he is called to break a fight in his office and then sends the messenger packing…

Go to the upper floor, this is where they have homicide…words to that effect

Meanwhile, Ethan has entered the room where Jessica is a prisoner and made threats that terrify Ryan, who is now convinced that this is not just a serious call, but that people might die.

He loses the signal on the way to Homicide and thus he has to abandon the project and tries to get to the school where Ricky Martin, the son, learns so that he could extract him from the path of danger.

He is stealing a Porsche, trying to get a cable to charge his phone and when he cannot do that, he is using a gun and then overpays for the charger, becoming a celebrity on television.

Eventually, the bad guys and the good ones would face each other, as we can expect from this type of film and after tense scenes, shooting, bodily contacts, fistfights and battle scenes, guess who wins?

It is farfetched and unsatisfying, except that Evans, Biel and Statham are charming and compensate to some extent the rather slim story.