Movie Review

Cellular

I usually like to take walks when I'm bored, and on my travels I've noticed something: no one uses phone booths anymore. They look like relics now and seem to exist solely as a place to stick your gum. It should be no surprise who the winner would be in comparing phone booths with cell phones, and much like in reality it would be no surprise as to which one would make the better movie either. This year?s phone escapade, Cellular, is so much better than last year's Phone Booth that it's like comparing Verizon's service with Nextel?s (hint: Nextel's is pretty bad).

The plot centers around Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger), a high school science teacher who returns from bringing her kid to the bus stop only to be kidnapped by several unknown men who lock her in the attic of an undisclosed location. The leader is Greer (Jason Statham), who wants to know where her husband put a very valuable object. She of course has no idea; her only hope of getting out of this situation alive is a smashed to bits phone laying on the floor.

After playing with the wires, she somehow gets an outside connection to Ryan, who convinces him to hand his phone off to a cop. Then events unfold which make that impossible, leaving Ryan as her only ally. He must race around the city doing everything he can to save her family and recover the thing the bad guys want before they do; in the background is also a cop named Mooney (William H. Macy), who eventually catches on to the kidnapping.

Cellular is fully loaded with shootouts, explosions, car chases, and "beat the other guy to the mark? first thrills,? but what is surprising is how it's so cleverly plotted. Cell phones have many features such as video recording and phone number keeping, but they also have drawbacks like having to get the battery recharged and getting crossed signals with another phone. It is for this reason that the plot not only outdoes Phone Booth in terms of a wider range of locations, but also in communication.

Cellular also beats Phone Booth in the ridiculously over the top way this is all handled. The main character holds a store at gunpoint, causes a huge pile-up on the highway, and drives through a construction site, and still manages to slip away every time. Only the plotting remains very good throughout, leaving you with something that feels more like above average September fluff than laughably bad September fluff.

The cast is also very good, especially William H. Macy and Jason Statham. Macy gets all the clich?s of a regular cop (retiring after 27 years, going into business with the wife), but he adds humor and toughness that makes him even more likable than the hero. And Statham's threateningly cold-blooded performance here gives scared Kim Basinger and intensely nervous Evans all the more reason to feel as they do. Cellular isn't the best of thrillers but it's far from a bad connection; it has ingenuity and a really nice looking cast, making it a pretty exciting night at the movies.

Craig's Grade: B

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%