Cell, The

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's one of the best films of the year.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Something of an unforgettable experience.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Disturbing, visually stunning thriller.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Tarsem uses the dramatically shallow plot to create a dream world densely packed with images of beauty and terror that cling to the memory even if you don't want them to.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Many of the film's images will prove more than some viewers can take.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Has its effectively nasty, chilling moments -- and it also brings body piercing to new heights of ickiness.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The Cell is eye candy - but it could give your brain a bad case of indigestion.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Impresses more than it entertains.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

Repetitive, aimless, and as frustrating as you'd imagine any two-hour music video to be.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The costumes are phenomenal, the set design ravishing and the sadistic inventiveness extraordinary.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Not nearly the mindfuck it wants to be.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The Cell is foremost about singular imagery, a succession of still pictures strung together frame by frame.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Visually impressive but exceedingly unpleasant little nail-biter.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The action is as grisly as it is surrealistic.

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

A must-see movie, simply for its awe-inspiring production values, but you'll feel nothing but punished by Tarsem's ghoulish parade of images.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Generic variation on the overworked serial-killer genre.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A high-tech freak show, a gallery of grotesqueries that are fascinating and repellent.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mr. Singh may have an artist's temperament, and he shows signs of being a director

Film.com Ernest Hardy

What makes The Cell worth viewing at all is the carefully sculpted imagery.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Riveting in its low way. It traffics in imagery profoundly disturbing.

USA Today Mike Clark

There's so little action or suspense that this Cell isn't too likely to multiply itself into a sequel.

Film.com Gemma Files

Visually stunning but emotionally shallow.

Variety Emanuel Levy

A slender story that's not particularly suspenseful or involving, resulting in a movie that's a feast to the eye but not much for the intellect.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Jennifer Lopez's butt? Alas, the moment is over all too soon; the movie, sadly, is not.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a pleasure to watch, but I found myself wondering if having a story here even mattered to the director at all.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

It's mesmerizing nonetheless for its flagrant disregard for narrative, character, pacing, performance and good lighting.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Almost no plot here and even less character--just a lot of pretexts for S-M imagery, Catholic decor, gobs of gore, and the usual designer schizophrenia.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

If The Cell were six minutes long it would blow your mind. At two hours, it's a disordered muddle of hellacious highs and pedestrian lows.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Disappointing only because its best moments are transcendent; its worst moments, sadly, are just so ordinary.

Slate David Edelstein

Serves up some of the most gruesomely misogynistic imagery in years, then ends with a bid for understanding. Are its makers so deluded that they think they're making the world a more compassionate place?

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Some movies make you sorry you've seen them, and The Cell is one of those. Creepy and horrific, it's a torture chamber film.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Any way you slice it, it is still pointless.