IMDb RATING
6.5/10
110K
YOUR RATING
A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. The catch? The woman claims to have been kidnapped, and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child... Read allA young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. The catch? The woman claims to have been kidnapped, and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. The catch? The woman claims to have been kidnapped, and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
Chase Ellis Bloch
- Timid Boy
- (as Chase Bloch)
Chelsea Ellis Bloch
- Surf Girl's Friend
- (as Chelsea Bloch)
Marco DiMaio
- Superior Officer
- (as Marco Dimaio)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Featured reviews
Excellent action and suspense movie with cellular starring and great cast
The movie centers the abduction of Kim Basinger and her son carried out by Jason Statham and others . She speaks by telephone with Chris Evans' cellular and he tries to free her. Chris is helped by a good police, played by William H. Macy , and his girlfriend , Jessica Biel.
In the movie there are car pursuits , thriller , surprises , emotions and it is enough amusing . From start to finish the noisy action pace is unstopped. The confrontation between the starring and the nasties is stimulating and stunning . The races of cars in the motorway are breathtaking and overwhelming and there are a little bit of humor concerning to a cocky driver. The picture obtained a great success at the box office all around the world , it's a real blockbuster. Kim Basinger interpretation is top-notch , she is beautiful in spite of being fifty years old . Chris Evans is nice , he has a good future . Chris Evans did his own car stunts. Before production began, he was trained for five weeks at a Los Angeles stunt school. Most of the stunts are done by the actors themselves, too . The support cast is riveting : Jason Statham makes an fascinating villain and William H. Macy interprets magnificently an agreeable pólice .
The motion picture was well directed by David R. Ellis, a good craftsman who started as stuntsman and director assistant . He has made nice and suspenseful thrillers such as Final destination , Asylum , Snakes on the plane and Jaws 3D . The yarn will appeal action-packed and suspense fans. Rating : 7/10 .Well catching.
In the movie there are car pursuits , thriller , surprises , emotions and it is enough amusing . From start to finish the noisy action pace is unstopped. The confrontation between the starring and the nasties is stimulating and stunning . The races of cars in the motorway are breathtaking and overwhelming and there are a little bit of humor concerning to a cocky driver. The picture obtained a great success at the box office all around the world , it's a real blockbuster. Kim Basinger interpretation is top-notch , she is beautiful in spite of being fifty years old . Chris Evans is nice , he has a good future . Chris Evans did his own car stunts. Before production began, he was trained for five weeks at a Los Angeles stunt school. Most of the stunts are done by the actors themselves, too . The support cast is riveting : Jason Statham makes an fascinating villain and William H. Macy interprets magnificently an agreeable pólice .
The motion picture was well directed by David R. Ellis, a good craftsman who started as stuntsman and director assistant . He has made nice and suspenseful thrillers such as Final destination , Asylum , Snakes on the plane and Jaws 3D . The yarn will appeal action-packed and suspense fans. Rating : 7/10 .Well catching.
Decent enough
Decent movie.
Willam H. Macey, as he often does, makes the movie that much better. It was fun watching him play a tough cop, which is usually not a role he would play, being typecast as the neurotic, bumbling sort of character. A simple, predictable plot that could've fit into an hour long t.v. Show, but then again, the movie is only an hour and a half.... Worth a look, anyway.
Willam H. Macey, as he often does, makes the movie that much better. It was fun watching him play a tough cop, which is usually not a role he would play, being typecast as the neurotic, bumbling sort of character. A simple, predictable plot that could've fit into an hour long t.v. Show, but then again, the movie is only an hour and a half.... Worth a look, anyway.
Really fun dumb thriller
Cellular is a tightly paced thriller rife with a lot of dumb conveniences that just work in the execution of it all, making it very easy to get invested in. It's 94 minutes of escalating problems that keeps everything on its toes and has the right amount of characters in the mix so it can juggle a lot of different elements to maintain a high energy. It's a testament to screenwriter Chris Morgan's talents for writing satisfyingly dumb movies.
Chris Evans comfortably rises to the task and remains likeable throughout as he tries his best to save the day, eschewing the early cynicism quickly. Kim Basinger gives the best performance by spending a lot of time in a panicked state without losing her urgency and William H. Macy is the unexpected MVP. Jason Statham gets to play the villain in a nice change of pace even if the role is so generic it could literally be anyone else.
David R. Ellis' direction has plenty of early 2000s stylings and brings a lot of dynamism to proceedings in a way that stands out more now. There's a couple of intense car chases, clever switch ups and tense shootouts that ensure this is always a blast. The humour is less successful but it's still mostly well implemented and the score by John Ottman has all the required bombast to really sell the high stakes.
Chris Evans comfortably rises to the task and remains likeable throughout as he tries his best to save the day, eschewing the early cynicism quickly. Kim Basinger gives the best performance by spending a lot of time in a panicked state without losing her urgency and William H. Macy is the unexpected MVP. Jason Statham gets to play the villain in a nice change of pace even if the role is so generic it could literally be anyone else.
David R. Ellis' direction has plenty of early 2000s stylings and brings a lot of dynamism to proceedings in a way that stands out more now. There's a couple of intense car chases, clever switch ups and tense shootouts that ensure this is always a blast. The humour is less successful but it's still mostly well implemented and the score by John Ottman has all the required bombast to really sell the high stakes.
"Cellular" Division
"Cellular" has the setup for a solid straight-ahead thriller: A kidnap victim who does not know where she is being held phones a total stranger who must then stay connected on his cell phone to find her before she is killed. Joel Schumacher scored earlier with a similarly phone-themed Larry Cohen story, "Phone Booth." As executed by tone-deaf director David R. Ellis, however, "Cellular" becomes an unintentionally hilarious cousin to Brian de Palma's "Raising Cain" and "Snake Eyes."
Ellis seems to have unwittingly spliced together two different films with mismatched tones: Kim Basinger as the kidnapee and Jason Statham as the kidnapper occupy the deadly-serious, straight-to-video thriller half, while Chris Evans as the rescuer and William H. Macy as a police officer seem to be in a "Saturday Night Live"-alum action comedy. Nowhere else is the disjointedness in tone more apparent than when Basinger and Evans's performances are placed side-by-side during their conversations: The scenes keep cutting between an overwrought Basinger wringing out every drop of melodrama, while a blissfully inept Evans seems to be channeling a cross between Chris Kattan/Jimmy Fallon and Ben Affleck/Keanu Reeves.
Meanwhile, Ellis pulls out tricks intended to generate thrills and surprises. He throws in out-of-nowhere "shocks," a la "Final Destination"; he throws in flashbacks; he throws in a gun-blazing Macy in Jerry Bruckheimer action-hero slo-mo; and yet, Ellis has no handle on staging any of them competently. Case in point: "Cellular" is the proud owner of one of the most ineptly scored chase sequences ever, as if Ellis simply heard a snippet of the song's lyrics ("...where you gonna run to?") literally and paid no attention to the inappropriateness of the accompanying music (which just bop, bop, bops along). (The song is even reprised during the closing credits, which itself is misbegotten in conception.)
And yet, for all of its failures as art, "Cellular" is always entertaining for those very same faults.
Ellis seems to have unwittingly spliced together two different films with mismatched tones: Kim Basinger as the kidnapee and Jason Statham as the kidnapper occupy the deadly-serious, straight-to-video thriller half, while Chris Evans as the rescuer and William H. Macy as a police officer seem to be in a "Saturday Night Live"-alum action comedy. Nowhere else is the disjointedness in tone more apparent than when Basinger and Evans's performances are placed side-by-side during their conversations: The scenes keep cutting between an overwrought Basinger wringing out every drop of melodrama, while a blissfully inept Evans seems to be channeling a cross between Chris Kattan/Jimmy Fallon and Ben Affleck/Keanu Reeves.
Meanwhile, Ellis pulls out tricks intended to generate thrills and surprises. He throws in out-of-nowhere "shocks," a la "Final Destination"; he throws in flashbacks; he throws in a gun-blazing Macy in Jerry Bruckheimer action-hero slo-mo; and yet, Ellis has no handle on staging any of them competently. Case in point: "Cellular" is the proud owner of one of the most ineptly scored chase sequences ever, as if Ellis simply heard a snippet of the song's lyrics ("...where you gonna run to?") literally and paid no attention to the inappropriateness of the accompanying music (which just bop, bop, bops along). (The song is even reprised during the closing credits, which itself is misbegotten in conception.)
And yet, for all of its failures as art, "Cellular" is always entertaining for those very same faults.
Keeps you on your toes
I happened to catch this movie during a free-preview weekend on Starz. I had never heard of it, so I did not know what to expect. For the whole duration of the movie, about 90 min., I was at the edge of my seat. The plot takes several unexpected turns and is packed with continuous action, while the characters are very believable. O.k., fine, it does not deal with deep moral issues, if you want a movie that will make you want to go out and change the world this is not it. But if you want an entertaining movie that will give you a big dose of adrenaline, will have you raise yourself from your seat, I strongly recommend it. By the way, I am not a big fun of horror teenage movies like Scream, I just don't find them believable, and find the characters shallow. The best part about this movie is that you actually feel sympathy for the victims, the plot is probable, and the action scenes do not require that the actors possess superhuman strength. At the end of the movie the only thing I could think of was "holy cow", a response I usually associate with a great roller coaster ride.
Did you know
- TriviaChris Evans did his own car stunts. Before production began, he was trained for five weeks at a Los Angeles stunt school. Most of the stunts are done by the actors themselves.
- GoofsWhen Jessica cuts the goon's arm, she tells him that he will bleed 30 liters per minute. The blood flow through a brachial artery is nowhere near that much. During vigorous exercise the entire heart puts out a total of 30 liters per minute, but that's the sum total flow through every artery of the body. The flow though a single brachial artery is fraction of that. In addition, the goon was not vigorously exercising. At rest, the cardiac output is about 5 liters per minute.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Jessica Martin: I don't know if there's anything I could ever do to thank you
Ryan: I do. Don't ever call me again.
- Crazy creditsThe first part of the closing credits show cast and crew names on cellular telephone screens, in scenes from the film.
- ConnectionsEdited into Cellular: Deleted/Alternate Scenes (2005)
- SoundtracksLike You Like an Arsonist
Written by Nicholas Zinkgraf, Scott Sherpe, Matthew Tennessen, Samuel Vinz and Nolan Treolo
Performed by Paris Texas
Courtesy of New Line Records, a division of New Line Productions, Inc.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Celular: Llamada desesperada
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $25,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $32,003,620
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,600,000
- Sep 12, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $57,678,321
- Runtime
- 1h 34m(94 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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