OxfordPress.com

Grade: C-

Verdict: Don't get trapped in this one.

Details: Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn and Vincent D'Onofrio. Directed by Tarsem. Rated R for violence, language and nudity. 1 hour, 52 minutes.

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Review: "The Cell" is the visually provocative, narratively impaired feature debut by Tarsem (full name: Tarsem Singh), who made his rep in commercials and music videos, including R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion."

Imagery, you might say, is his middle name and he certainly knows his audience, i.e., teenage boys. But anyone hoping for something with the sci-fi smarts of, say, "Blade Runner," best wait for the video. "The Cell" centers on warped serial killer, Carl Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio), who likes to trap his female victims in a subterranean tank which, after 40 hours, automatically fills with water. They drown and he then does various unspeakable things (mostly unseen) to them which, as far as I could tell, involve bleach and Barbie dolls. He's also into body-piercing. Big time.

When he captures his newest prey, a young woman named Julie (Tara Subkoff), who does all the things the TV specials tell young women to do when entering a deserted garage and still gets snatched, the police, led by detective Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn), manage to track him down. But Carl, who suffers from a rare brain disorder, has a seizure and goes into a coma.

What's a cop to do when the killer is in custody but the victim is still in danger?

Luckily, just nearby, a team of scientists (Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Dylan Baker) have been experimenting with a radical form of sci-fi therapy. An intrepid child psychologist named Catherine (Jennifer Lopez) enters the mind of her patient - in this case, a young boy named Edward who's been in a coma for years. Would she be willing to take a stroll through Carl's deranged brain to find out where he's stashed Julie?

Parts of "The Cell" are impressively imaginative. The opening sequence, in which Catherine travels through Edward's dream desert, are like "Lawrence of Arabia" on acid. But being inside Carl's head is like being trapped inside a bad music video. So many of the images are so garishly adolescent in their misogynist fantasies of female bondage and mutilation that they're more laughable than horrifying. Other "trippy" sequences suggest failed Fruitopia ads. And the way that Catherine connects with the inner Carl - by connecting with his abused child-self - is TV-movie sappy.

Vaughn, who seemed so promising in "Swingers," is a virtual blank while the ever-talented D'Onofrio wisely spends most of the movie unconscious - except for some fantasy sequences in which he's required to dress like Elton John circa 1975 and jerk around like he did as the bug-posessed farmer in "Men in Black."

Lopez isn't too bad. She's more a likable presence than an accomplished actress, but she pulls off what's required of her. Which includes wearing some truly over-the-top costumes that are so extreme that they may snag an Oscar nomination for Japanese costume designer Eiko Ishioka Among the outfits: a feathered white gown, a black-and-bare body suit and something that looks like Buddhist nun-wear.

The major problem is that "The Cell" continuously echoes "The Silence of the Lambs," only minus the intricate character interplay, Jonathan Demme's direction and the taut storyline. But give Tarsem credit for anticipating the inevitable comparisons. Carl's first victim - dead by the time we see her - looks a bit like Jodie Foster.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service