Now a Reason to be Afraid of Your Cell

Clay Riddell (John Cusack) is a graphic novelist who has been on the road and waiting at home is wife Sharon and son Johnny. Trying to talk to his son on the phone he loses power and uses a pay phone. What begins happening around him is insanity as everyone who is using a cell phone start killing one another.

Trying to get away from the madness and get home to his family, Clay is forced underground where he meets Tom McCourt (Samuel L. Jackson) and they both try and discover what is causing it all.

As the crowd become bloodthirsty, there is a pattern that seems to be coming from the creatures, a signal – but coming from where? When Clay reaches home he learns his son has gone to a place he was told is dangerous.

There is nothing that will stop him!

Cusack as Clay is a man obsessed with his career but that isn’t anything compared to his obsession in finding his son. Cusack has the ability to bring out a lot of emotion with a voice that seemingly remains calm until it’s time to not be so calm.

Jackson as Tom doesn’t take any crap from anyone, alive or otherwise. That’s Jackson’s M.O. for many of his roles - intense with crazy eyed stares and doesn’t need a reason to walk away from crazy.

Other cast include Owen Teague as Jordan, Isabelle Fuhrman as Alice, Alex ter Avest as Chloe, Joshua Mikel as Raggedy, Catherine Dyer as Sally, Griffin Freeman as Mike, Stacy Keach as Charles Ardai.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give CELL three tubs of popcorn out of five. I have to say that I love the idea of the story very much (I appreciate anything zombie-esque) and it does have a nice twist. What I would have liked is a little bit better cinematography. There are places where I wondered what was the deal.

Having Cusack and Jackson together is a fantastic choice as their characters played off one another. This is the second King collaboration with Cusack and Jackson as they appeared together in the 2007 thriller 1408.

There is an intensity not knowing where the story is going to go next and by the time it all becomes clear I was totally drained! I definitely don’t think I will look at my cell phone or cell towers the same ever again but there is also something to be said about setting it down once in a while.

In the end – when everyone is connected no one is safe!