Stephen King Week: Cell

One of the most recent Stephen King adaptations was the film version of his novel, Cell. Described as King's take on the Zombie genre, it was one of his books that I felt would translate well to film. But yet, as the movie came out, I heard it wasn't very good. Curious to judge it for myself, I figured Stephen King week would be a good time to check it out.

Clay Riddell (played by John Cusack) is a graphic artist on his way home from a business trip to his wife and son when suddenly everyone's cell phones start to ring (Clay's had just run out of juice). When people answer their phone, they hear a sharp tone that instantly turns them into rabid and dangerously violent monsters. Clay barely manages to escape the airport with his life and into the subway below where he meets subway operator Tom McCourt (played by Samuel L. Jackson). The two partner up as Clay tries to make his way home to find his wife and son as society literally crumbles around them, picking up stray survivors along the way.

The film was directed by Tod Williams, who has a bit of a mixed filmography ranging from the found footage sequel Paranormal Activity 2 to the quirky indie comedy The Adventures of Sebastian Cole, the former I didn't think much of (I hate found footage movies, I'm sorry) to the very much enjoying the latter (if you ever wanted to see Clark "Agent Phil Coulson" Gregg play a transgender woman, that's your movie). Sadly, this is probably his worst movie. There is little that sets it apart from the glut of zombie movies that has by now permeated our culture. The idea of a cell phone signal being the cause of it is a novel idea, but the movie fails to make much of it. The screenplay was written by Stephen King himself as well as Adam Alleca. I'm not sure what happened in the process of translating the book to the screen, but so much of the film is lifeless. There are the occasional flourishes of creativity and black humor here and there, such as when Clay and Tom are driving a gas truck through a football field that is full of sleeping zombies (they power down at night, apparently) and the truck gets momentarily stuck in the resulting gore. You don't see much, but you don't need to as one's imagination is most likely filling in the blanks. There is also a plot point about the group of survivors all dreaming about a person in a red hoodie that never quite pays off in a satisfactory way. Aside from those small, occasional flourishes, the film plays out like pretty much every other zombie movie. 

The acting is likewise pretty bland, with both Cusack and Jackson downplaying every scene when we really need there to feel like there is a sense of urgency or panic. The world is literally falling apart around them and they seem oddly blase about it. But I suppose when you live in a world where Donald Trump is considered a viable presidential candidate, one expects the end of the world to be around the corner and resigns themselves to it. That's the only way this makes sense. There is no suspense in the film and the actors are pretty much stock end of the world horror movie characters. 

It's not that Cell is horrible exactly, it's just very bland and does little to justify it's existence. There is no tension for much of the movie, I didn't really care about any of the characters, it's painfully dull at times and when it isn't, it just feels very been there, done that. It's the worst kind of bad movie, it's one that's boring.