Though she's held captive, Jessica Martin manages to contact an unsuspecting young man via his cell phone. As he becomes her only lifeline to thwarting the abduction of her young son, the good Samaratin soon gets way more than he bargained for. A woman is kidnapped out of her house and brought somewhere and locked in a room. Now there's a phone in the room but before she could use it, her captor smashes it. She then tinkers with it and manages to get a dial tone but is unable to dial. She then crosses wires and contacts a young surfer. When she tells him that she has been kidnapped; he doesn't believe her and/or care but he goes to the police to report the crime. When he gets to the station he gets the run around. While waiting he hears the woman's conversation with her captor and learns that her family's in danger so he tries to help them but in the process of doing that he commits some acts that make the police think he's a criminal or crazy; like stealing a car and brandishing a gun in public. What I found interesting in the movie is the way of advertising, very deft! The characters use all kinds of NOKIA cell phone and of course, they never forget to tell the viewers how modern, convenient and perfect the cell phones are. Surely, the movie helps boost the sale of Nokia cell phone, especially 6600.<br/><br/>The movie is just fine. It's a good way to kill the time (in case you are idle).<br/><br/>Another interesting stuff is the stupid fake cops. They talk too much, that is the common blunders in US movies. When the villains are fully able to kill someone by just pulling the trigger, they suddenly prefer to use the power of the muscles and the fists. Hence, the victim (played by famous actor, of course) never die! 7 out of 10 is too muchÂ… but that's fine! I presume that most people have seen those Orange mobile phone adverts at the cinema (most British people anyway). Well, if not, here's a brief synopsis: in each ad, a famous actor/actress (Carie Fisher, Patrick Swayze, Carrie Fisher, etc) gives a film pitch to a committee, who then ruin the original idea by trying to make the film revolve around mobile phones. They are genuinely funny and refreshing commercials that prepare you for the feature presentation as you settle into your seat. What is neither funny nor refreshing is when this comic premise is lived out in real life, as happened in the appalling 'Cellular'. I picture it something like this: William H Macy and Kim Basinger walk in to make their film pitch. It is an obvious nod to the mainstream action/adventure market, but is an interesting kidnap heist, involving mistaken identities and deep rooted corruption in the establishment. Lurking conspiratorially beneath the gun fights and car chases is a seething existential angst and an indictment of Western capitalism. The committee considers their proposal, apparently excited by its crossover appeal, but then the phone idea rears its ugly head. After a few humorous quips and put downs ('lets see how FAR this will GO, William' and 'we'll get back to you in, say, 9 1/2 weeks, Kim')the committee decide that this would be the perfect film to revolve entirely around cellular phone technology, and after all there's that guy who writes stories about phones, Ethan? Joel? No, Larry Cohen- thats right. After all, 'Phone Booth' was a great success. Somehow (and this to me is the greatest mystery of all) Macy and Basinger are won round and agree to star in what will surely be the nadir of both of their illustrious careers.<br/><br/>Well, at least they both had the decency to give to the script the effort it deserved. Basinger's wailing, pleading captive is unconvincing and annoying and left me wishing that Jason Statham had smashed her head with the sledgehammer instead of the phone in the opening scene. Macy was not quite so gallant in his attempts to scupper an already sinking ship, and pulled out a reasonable and typically dead pan performance. It is debatable whether he was acting that way, though, or perhaps he was in shock from the fact that he (yes, the William H Macy!) was going to have to pull off some acrobatic gun play and other John Woo-esquire antics. Of course, these scenes were utterly ridiculous. I really thought that the main actors had teamed together to get their names removed from the credits, but although they achieved it at the start (there are no opening credits), the evidence of their presence is irrevocably recorded at the end (fittingly the actors' names appear on mobile phones! How droll.)<br/><br/>I think that others have pointed out the many, many plot flaws, so I won't dwell on them. My main problem, however, that i will share, was the fact that though Basinger's character phoned an apparently entirely random number she managed to get hold of someone who didn't just speak her language, or even just live in her own country, but she contacted someone who was about 5 miles away and who amazingly had nothing else of any significance to do all day besides from run round helping her.<br/><br/>In conclusion, though, it wouldn't be fair to concentrate on these quirks, as it has to be said that the movie makers achieved their ends fabulously. We have all learnt new and wonderful things about mobile phones and I personally am very grateful for it. For the novice, you now know that all phones need charging regularly, and if you have the right kit, you can do it in your car. Remember, too, be careful as the signal cuts off when you go under tunnels. Here's an interesting revelation as well- the phone will save the number of the last person who called you (could be handy!) Also, phones aren't just there for calls, you know- they take photos, and even videos. You can even get crossed lines apparently and someone else can interrupt you in mid conversation.<br/><br/>Well, there we are- the wonders of the modern world we live in! We can communicate with others wherever we are and we can waste millions on movies that are devoid of any hint of talent, reason or soul. Welcome to the 21st century! Slickly produced, well cast and very excitingly made, it's based on plot hooks so silly, most of them blow up in your face.
Sallirayna replied
364 weeks ago