Escaping into Boston’s subway system, Clay meets up with train conductor Tom (Jackson), forming an alliance that grows into a doomed yet compelling friendship. Joining them on their journey is Alice (Isabelle Furhman), Clay’s shell-shocked neighbor who has just killed her infected mother, and Jordan (Owen Teague), the sharpest kid in a prep school whose entire student body has become phoners. Rounding out this motley crew is Jordan’s headmaster, played by Stacy Keach. Not since Wilford Brimley in “Hard Target” have I been so giddy to see an old-saw character actor show up wielding a bow and arrow. Keach’s screen-time is short, but he dominates every scene.
Hardcore horror fans will probably be disappointed with "Cell." Director Tod Williams (“The Door in the Floor”) seems more comfortable highlighting the underlying macabre elements in the film’s dramatic scenes than in depicting gory violence. King’s graphic opening chapter of "Cell," which relocates the film’s airport attack to Boston Commons, gave me nightmares after I read it. Williams’ depiction is a decent action sequence, but it’s not scary. (A later scene, set in a bar, is far more effective and creepy.) This isn’t to say that Williams is unaware he’s making a Stephen King movie; a scene featuring a truck filled with gasoline and a soccer field covered with teenagers ranks as one of the blackest depictions of morbid humor I’ve seen in years. Cusack and Jackson sell the scene so well that its squirm-inducing without having to resort to graphic gore.
There are other notable moments that make “Cell” better than expected, sly little bits meant for maximum effect. Notice how the camera lovingly caresses that huge butcher knife in the airport restaurant kitchen just before the pulse, or how Jackson’s beautiful voice-over prayer ends with a shot of a single tear running down Jordan’s cheek. Williams and King, who co-wrote the screenplay, want us to care about the characters because we’ll be spending so much downtime with them between scenes of violence. As a result, their expected demises have the power to sting.
Unlike the numerous angry reviewers on IMDb, I wasn’t upset that “Cell” deviates from the book. One can’t squeeze 400 pages into 98 minutes. I do wish, however, that the film weren’t so rushed and unclear in its details about the pulse and its aftermath. The concept of humankind turning into one enormous mobile hotspot for use by an evil mastermind has legs. It’s too bad “Cell” cuts the idea off at the knees.
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