'Cellular' features good thrills, implausible moments

Second time director David R. Ellis seems to be obsessed with ... telephones. At least it’s an original theme.

His first film, “Phonebooth,” was about a man trapped at a pay phone in New York City talking to someone he didn’t know. The unknown caller was watching and he had a gun.

Ellis must have been taken to task by people who complained, “No one uses pay phones anymore. Everyone has a cell.”

That would explain his latest movie, “Cellular,” which may be thought of as a companion piece to “Phonebooth.” In “Cellular” a man races around Los Angeles talking on his cell phone to a woman he doesn’t know. He’s trying to keep her on the line to save her life and the lives of her family.

Anyone who uses a cell phone will be able to identify with many of the predicaments that come into play. Low batteries, tunnels and concrete buildings are just a few.

Ellis starts off fast-paced and wastes little time with a set-up. He doesn’t really need to.

Kim Basinger plays Jessica Martin, a high school science and biology teacher. While getting ready for work one morning, five thugs smash through the door, kill Jessica’s housekeeper and kidnap her. They take her to a house, lock her in the attic and ask her if she knows where her husband has hidden “it.” Jessica doesn’t know what “it” is – nor does the audience – and assures the men that this is a case of mistaken identity. “I’m a teacher and my husband’s a real estate broker,” she tells them.

Noticing an old rotary-dial phone on the wall, one of the thugs smashes it with a sledgehammer. One wonders why they didn’t just cut the wires. It’s good for Jessica he didn’t.

When she finds herself alone, Jessica hears the off-the-hook noise coming from the phone, which is in bits. She starts fiddling with some wires and thus dialing the phone. She’s a science teacher after all, and knows about these things. Her biology background will come in handy later on as well. Jessica finally makes a connection. She reaches a young man named Ryan (Chris Evans) and tells him her story. He thinks it’s one of his friends playing a joke. Jessica implores him to take 10 minutes and go to the police, just don’t lose the connection.

Ryan goes to the nearest police station. It’s a madhouse. There’s a gang fight outside. No one helps him. When he hears something chilling on the other end of the line he realizes this is no joke.

To persuade Jessica to talk, the kidnappers tell her they know where her son goes to school and they are going to go pick him up. She’s able to relay this information to Ryan but he’s a few moments too late to the kid’s school. There are other scenes like this and it’s good cat-and-mouse fare. Even the big freeway pile-up, now a staple (or cliché) of this type of film, is entertaining.

Ellis lets the pertinent plot points – such as who the kidnappers are and what they want – unfold bit by bit. This information can’t be discussed here, it would spoil the fun.

The screenwriters have worked the many uses for cell phones, as well as the many annoying things about them, into the plot. Considering that nearly everyone but me has a cell phone, I guess they figured it would be easy to draw the audience into the plot. I’m surprised it hasn’t been thought of before.

There are many implausible moments in “Cellular,” such as the fact that cell phones have caller ID and 911 could do a reverse lookup for an address. Why does Ryan need to get to the airport? Doesn’t Jessica’s husband carry a cell phone? Ryan could call and warn him.

But that’s nit-picking. “Cellular” is a good thriller and an original idea.

Can you hear me now? Good!

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

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