it's probably inevitable that the popular virtual reality genre ( " the matrix , " " existenz " ) would collide with the even more popular serial-killer genre ( " kiss the girls , " " se7en " ) . <NEG> the result should have been more interesting </NEG> than " the cell . " as the movie opens , therapist catharine deane ( jennifer lopez ) treats a catatonic boy ( colton james ) by entering his mind <NEG> through some sort of virtual reality technique that's never fully explained </NEG> . after months of therapy sessions in a surreal desert , catharine has no success to report . meanwhile , killer carl stargher ( vincent d'onofrio ) has claimed another victim . his particular hobby is to kidnap young women , keep them in a glass cell overnight , and drown them . he takes the corpse and soaks it in bleach , then suspends himself over the body and jerks off while watching a video tape of the drowning . although carl's been doing this for awhile , he's recently become sloppy , and fbi agent peter novak ( vince vaughn ) is closing in fast . not fast enough , though , to keep carl from sticking another woman ( tara subkoff ) in the cell or to catch him before he suffers a schizophrenic attack that leaves him in a coma . from the videos in carl's house , peter can see that the drowning cell is automated and will fill with water forty hours after the abduction . to save the kidnapped girl , peter has to find the cell before the end of the day , and comatose carl's not talking . so off they go to catharine in the hope that she can go inside carl's mind and find out where the cell is in time . the focus of " the cell " in on the ornate interior of carl's mind , but the universe director tarsem singh creates seems more an exercise in computer-generated spectacle than an exploration of the psychotic personality . for the most part , <NEG> it's style without substance </NEG> . in his own mind , carl is a decadent emperor in flowing robes , ming the merciless , as well as a frightened boy ( jake thomas ) abused by his father . all in all , the mind of a psycho killer <NEG> turns out to be a strangely dull place , and i kept wishing i could fast-forward </NEG> to the next development . singh is best known for directing music videos , particularly rem's " losing my religion , " and " the cell " <NEG> seems very much like a really long , really slow mtv video with the sound deleted . singer lopez seems to think she's in a video as well ; she devotes more time to posing in elaborate costumes than she does to acting </NEG> . the premise had great promise . the computer-generated world within carl's mind could have been a bizarre , surreal universe governed by insanity and symbolism rather than logic . the first room catharine enters in carl's head shows this promise . she finds a horse standing in center of the room ; suddenly , sheets of sharp-edged glass fall into the horse , dividing it into segments . the panes of glass separate , pulling apart the pieces of the still-living horse . this scene is twisted , disturbing , and thought-provoking , because the psychological importance of the horse and its fate is left to the viewer to ponder . another element that should have been developed is the effect on catharine of merging with the mind of a psychopath . their minds begin to bleed together at one point in the movie , and this should have provided an opportunity to discover the dark corners of catharine's own psyche . like sidney lumet's " the offence " or michael mann's " manhunter , " " the cell " could have explored how the madness of the killer brings out a repressed darkness in the investigator . however , catharine's character <NEG> is hardly developed at all </NEG> , and lopez <NEG> has no depth to offer the role </NEG> . bottom line : <NEG> don't get trapped in this one </NEG> .
