The very definition of a "taut" thriller, this suspense yarn scripted by Larry Cohen (PHONE BOOTH) aims straight for the adrenaline glands and never lets go. A lazy beach bum named Ryan (Chris Evans) finds himself getting focused in a real hurry when he receives a random cell phone call from kidnapped biology teacher (Kim Basinger). She's locked in an attic with a room full of killers below, and has only managed to contact him via crossing loose wires on a smashed phone; if they lose the connection, she may never get another one, and the kidnappers are going after her child next. What follows is a nonstop race all over Los Angeles as Ryan deals with connection-threatening problems like tunnels, low batteries, and crossed signals. William H. Macy is great as the weary cop who doggedly senses something's amiss, and British actor Jason Statham (SNATCH) is a really scary kidnapper with a convincing American accent. Hitchcock would likely smile in approval of director David R. Ellis borrowing many of his suspense building tricks, as it's all in the service of keeping the anxiety jacked up to maximum. This is fine b-movie entertainment, with believable, intelligent characters, no GGI effects, and everything happening in (almost) real time. Highlights include a cell phone store visit and Eddie Driscoll as an obnoxious lawyer. Basinger is amazing, as usual, in a difficult role.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen - 2.40
Audio:
5.1 Surround Sound - English
Additional Release Material:
Theatrical Trailer
Preview Trailer from New Line Cinema
Audio Commentary - 1. David Ellis - Director
2. Larry Cohen - Screen Writer
3. Chris Morgan - Screen Writer
Deleted/ Alternate Scenes - 1. Optional Director Commentary
Featurettes - 1. Celling Out - A look at cell phones in today's culture.
2. Dialing up Cellular - making of the film
3. Code of Silence: Inside the Rampart Scandal
DVD-ROM Features:
Script-to-Screen
Story
Larry Cohen: Director/Screenwriter, IT'S ALIVE (1974), PHONE BOOTH (2001)
Executive Producer
Douglas Curtis: Director/Producer
Review 1:
"[A]n improbably enjoyable new telecommunications action thriller....[I]t also has an easygoing, balmy vibe..."
Source: New York Times
p.E11 09/10/2004
Review 2:
"Chris Evans is blithely likable....Basinger makes a vividly frightened woman in peril, and William H. Macy scores..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.49 09/17/2004
Review 3:
"CELLULAR is a well-paced action film in the vein of SPEED."
Source: USA Today
p.6D 09/10/2004
Review 4:
"CELLULAR is cleverly set up..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.E7 09/10/2004
Review 5:
"The movie is skillfully plotted, halfway plausible and well acted; the craftsmanship is in the details, including the astonishing number of different ways in which a cell phone can be made to function."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.31 09/10/2004
Review 6:
"CELLULAR hurtles along at a grand pace....It's the smaller character moments that resonate…The best moments come from Kim Basinger..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.43-4 12/01/2004
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