If you are pumped to see Cellular, calm down a bit. If you are thinking you are in for Phone Booth 2, you’re not. Cellular is a wild ride, with a couple of flaws preventing it from being a stand-out movie. That said, you aren’t going to hate yourself for seeing it in the theaters, just as you won’t mind waiting to rent it.
Quickly getting to the point, the movie finds Jessica Martin (Basinger) suddenly swept out of her life and thrown into an upstairs attic by a group of kidnappers led by the intimidating Ethan (Statham). Her only connection to the outside world revolves around a smashed phone and her capability to get it to work and ultimately someone on the other end of the line.
Fortunately for moviegoers, she gets Ryan (Evans) on his cellphone and drags him into her personal nightmare sending him all over town in an effort to figure out just what the hell is going on and save her at the same time.
As Cellular unfolds it never slows down, it is one thing after another, until suddenly pieces of the puzzle begin to fit together and you realize just how much trouble Jessica and her family are in.
Where the movie runs into trouble is in its casting as Kim Basinger over does the innocent victim role and Chris Evans is pretty much miscast altogether. While they were going for the good-looking surfer boy look to fill the role Evans just doesn’t have the capabilities of pulling off the tough guy role when it is necessary.
But to give credit where credit is due I must point to Jason Statham, who possesses such screen presence that it is awesome to see him up there. Good guy or bad guy, from Snatch to The Transporter, Statham has always impressed me even when the movies he is in don’t.
Along the same lines William H. Macy is in this one and gives a solid performance, although some of his scenes are a little out there and questionable, it is still forgiving based on the fact that he is such a tremendous addition to any cast, plus he adds a good bit of humor to an action packed film.
Overall, it is like I said in my opening, you won’t be shooting yourself in the foot for checking out a matinee of this one, but you also won’t be upset if you wait to watch it in the comfort of your own home.
