The Cell (New Line Platinum Series)
Schizoid serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) has  been captured at last, but a neurological seizure has rendered him  comatose, and FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughan) has no way to  determine the location of Stargher's latest and still-living victim. To  probe the secrets contained in Stargher's traumatized psyche, the FBI  recruits psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez), who has  mastered a new technology that allows her to enter the mind of another person. What she finds in Stargher's head is a  theater of the grotesque, which, as envisioned by first-time director  Tarsem Singh, is a smorgasbord of the surreal that borrows liberally  from the Brothers Quay, Czech animator Jan Svankmajer, Hieronymous  Bosch, Salvador Dali, and a surplus of other cannibalized sources.This provides one of the wildest, weirdest visual feasts ever committed  to film, andThe Cellearns a place among such movie mind-trips  as2001: A Space Odyssey,Altered States,What Dreams  May Come, andUn Chien Andalou. Is this a good thing? Sure,  if all you want is freakazoid eye-candy. If you're looking for emotional depth,  substantial plot, and artistic coherence,The Cellis sure to  disappoint. The pop-psychology pablum of Mark Protosevich's screenplay  would be laughable if it weren't given such somber significance, and  Singh's exploitative use of sadomasochistic imagery is repugnant (this  movie makesSevenlook tame), so you're better off marveling at  the nightmare visions that are realized with astonishing potency.The Cellis too shallow to stay in your head for long, but while  it's there, it's one hell of a show.--Jeff Shannon