CELLULAR

"I've been kidnapped"

Jessica

Answering a call on his cell phone, Ryan (Evans) finds himself talking to an extremely distressed sounding woman called Jessica (Basinger). She claims that she has been kidnapped by five men and is been held in the attic of a house but she doesn't know where. Ryan doesn't believe her at first but when he overhears a kidnapper threatening to kill Jessica if she didn't tell him where her husband was, he knows he has to do something to save her.

High octane, real time thrillers are becoming all the rage but what kind of reception is Cellular going to get?

The writer of the excellent Phone Booth, Larry Cohen continues his obsession with combining the telephone and tension. Cellular is one of those movies that raises the anxiety levels and provides some genuine edge of your seat thrills. Mixing the drama of Kim Basinger's character Jessica's abduction and the perils that her and her family go through, with the high octane thrills of Chris Evan's Ryan trying to save them and keep a strong cell phone signal works well, making you want to answer this call and not just let it go to voice mail.

The storyline and the thrills of the action are brought to life by some good performances from the cast. Chris Evans continues to make waves in Hollywood in a role that will get him noticed by the big players. He makes Ryan a likeable character and you never really question his reasons for trying to save Jessica and her family. He is an average man trying to do the right thing and he succeeds in making you wonder if you would go to the same lengths to save a stranger's life. Kim Basinger returns to form as Jessica. As a woman fighting for her life and her family, Basinger brings the right level of desperation and guts to the role to make the character very believeable, drawing you into her plight. Brit actor Jason Statham continues to make waves in Hollywood playing the main villain of the film. He does an excellent job in making Greer instantly dislikeable and very menacing. William H. Macy brings abit of class to the proceedings as veteran police officer Mooney. This is the kind of role that Macy excels in, making the character instantly appealing. The gorgeous Jessica Biel and Eric Christian Olsen also provide good but limited support in smaller roles.

Cellular proves excellent coverage of all the major areas of the action thriller genre. While it does get abit predictable towards the end, especially after the big reveal, this is still entertaining but will make you hesitant about answering your phone when you don't know is on the other end.

Deleted and alternative scenes with optional audio commentary from director David R. Ellis
Audio commentary with director David Ellis and writers Larry Cohan & Chris Morgan
'Celling Out' featurette: a look at cellphones in today's culture
'Dialing Up Cellular' featurette: a look at the making of the film
'Code of Silence: Inside the Rampart Scandal' featurette
Theatrical trailer

Phone Booth

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2004