The CellMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 40 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    It's one of the best films of the year. Read full review

  • 70
    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. Read full review

  • 63
    Boston Globe | Jay Carr

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

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

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

  • 50
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

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

  • 40
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    Riveting in its low way. It traffics in imagery profoundly disturbing. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Mike Clark

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

  • 30
    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. Read full review

  • 0
    San Francisco Chronicle | Bob Graham

    Any way you slice it, it is still pointless. Read full review

  • 0
    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. Read full review

View more reviews for The Cell on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ A movie with no plot, no logic, no meaning.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that the movie has many gross, upsetting, and scary moments, including child abuse, torture, murder, perversion, mutilation, a terrifying full-immersion baptism, and characters in peril. A character smokes marijuana to calm her nerves.
  • Families can talk about what it would be like to enter someone else's mind and about the differences in the ways individuals think. They may also want to talk about mental illness, its causes and treatments.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Graphic, gruesome images, torture, murder, child abuse. Very scary.
  • sex false3 Sex: Nude corpse, sexual references.
  • language false3 Language: Some strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Cigarette and marijuana smoking, alcohol abuse.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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