Cellular

Starring: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham, William H. Macy, Jessica Biel
Directed by: David R. Ellis
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action
2004

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After a woman (Kim Basinger) is kidnapped by a ruthless thug (Jason Statham), she reaches the outside world by dialing through a shattered phone. She happens to connect to a lazy, carefree young man (Chris Evans). He is called upon to save her, but he can't lose her call or she'll die. Now, an ordinary man must do everything in his power to save a mystery woman before she is killed.

Review:

Tim: Cellular is nothing besides a decent, run-of-the-mill action flick that is only slightly better than it should be.

It uses a concept that isn't original or new. The main premise is that Chris Evans can't lose the phone call, or Kim Basinger dies. He goes through quite an ordeal keeping the call alive, much like keeping the spped above 50 in Speed or keeping the bomb temperature low in Chill Factor.

Chris Evans actually makes a pretty good action hero. While he starts off pretty annoying, he gets better as the movie goes on (he's no Keanu Reeves, but still pretty decent).

Kim Basinger is more annoying than anything else. She just has to act scared throughout the entire movie. While she does a good job of this, she tends to get on our nerves.

Jason Statham makes a surprisingly good bad guy. While I like him much better as an action hero, he can definitely pull this role off, too.

William H. Macy is wasted. He plays the good cop who slowly unravels the truth. This is a tired concept. The whole beauty shop thing is ridiculous and a sad copy of Robert Duvall's character in Falling Down.

I shouldn't even mention Jessica Biel, as she is pretty worthless. Anyone could have played the part.

All in all, I was surprised that Cellular is as good as it turned out to be. It has little to work with besides tired action cliches, but it manages to put something together.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Speed, Chill Factor, Falling Down, Fantastic Four