10 Great Sci-Fi Villains Trapped In Terrible Movies

Despite some eye-catching imagery and a plot which was intriguing, albeit conspicuously derivative of Inception, Tarsem’s insatiable desire to be artsy and edgy was The Cell’s demise. It simply tries way too hard. Multiple scenes consist almost exclusively of pretentious metaphors flying at you from all angles before you get the chance to drink any of it in. These scenes are then sandwiched between bafflingly long exposition dumps.

The Cell stars Jennifer Lopez as a psychologist and Vince Vaughn as an FBI agent who track down a serial killer’s latest kidnap victim through the use of an advanced technology which penetrates his mind – sending them into a simulated reality within the criminal’s conscious.

Vincent D’Onofrio does a spectacular job depicting the unstable nature of a psychotic man broken by a history of abuse at the hand of his father, and materializes a character whose thought process is both intriguing and frightening. Carl Stargher’s twisted mind is personified by scenery which looks like it belongs on the set of a Marilyn Manson video, and has a disturbed beauty. Journeying through it delves into the source of Stargher's warped psyche and the inescapable cycle of torment he is trapped in.

But this abstract approach begins to feel obnoxious as more and more convoluted symbols are stacked on top of each other as if to say “analyse me! I’m sooooo deep”. And when the rest of the film is such a drag to get through, you just end up wanting to whack on one of J-Lo’s funky skin suits and transport yourself into the mind of someone watching a better film.