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Category:    Home > Reviews > Thriller > The Cell 2 (2009/New Line/Warner Blu-ray + DVD)

The Cell 2 (2009/New Line/Warner Blu-ray + DVD)

 

Picture: C/C-/D     Sound: C-/D     Extras: D     Film: D

 

 

Why does a completely original story that has become an underground hit, always have to have a sequel?  The sequels are never good, they tend to alienate the fans, and do very little business.  In the end it hardly seems worth it.  Recently we have seen quite a few titles that fit that bill and the newest release being a straight to DVD sequel to The Cell.  The wonderfully titled, belated Cell 2 is a complete insult to the original.  Director Tarsem created a visually stunning psychological thriller that far exceeded anything it should have been.  That cannot be re-created, and yet someone thought it was worth a try. How wrong.  This is an awful mess of a movie that has no redeeming qualities at all.

 

Frank Whaley who has had some very good and memorable performances in his career, should not have to slump to a low such as this.  He is a complete waste of talent here.  Director Tim Iacofano, who has prior work on TV’s 24 and served as a producer, has no experience directing a full length feature.  I wonder if this was just a practice run, as it really does not seem like he even tried.  This film just undermines the originality of a brilliant movie.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition picture is in the middle somewhere.  Shots go back and forth from clear, to quite distorted with is very little balance, to continuing scenes.  The attempt to use colors like the original also massively fails.  This causes a very odd look overall to the movie, which really does not help visually, made worse on the widescreen version on DVD, while the pan & scan 1.33 version is a throwaway disaster.  But then after all, the cinematographer’s last movie was Daddy Day Camp.  Enough said.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is incredibly poor.  The effect sounds, as well as dialogue are frequently very loud and not evenly maintained throughout the course of a scene.  It is extremely annoying when they try to blast you out and then the next scene you can barely hear.  Playing with the volume button is not something I like doing while watching a movie.

The one feature on the disc is a joke of a behind the scenes feature.  I would be surprised if anyone actually wanted to watch this, and even more surprised if they finished it.  Everyone trying to explain why the movie is so bad, without acknowledging how bad it truly is, is quite a joke.

Final word: wait for the original Cell to hit Blu-ray and watch that instead. 

 

 

-   Nate Rutkus


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