The Cell (2000)

Movie: 5/5
Video: 3/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 0/5
Overall: 3/5

One of the Most Conflicting Transfers I've Ever Seen!

The only way I've been getting my Canadian Blu-rays is through a grocery-type store called Meijer. They have these Alliance Blu-rays that pop up for $10 and every once in a while I'll look through them in hopes of finding something that's not out here in the US on the Blu-ray format. Well, I finally found a copy of "The Cell". The 2000 film starring Jennifer Lopez and a pre-comedic Vince Vaughn in this sci-fi thriller about going into the mind of a killer. The film, at the time, was pretty unique in terms of visuals; but as CGI has improved over the years, more and more craziness arrives such as Robert Rodriguez' "Sin City" or Kazuaki Kiriya's "Casshern" and "Goemon". I give the feature a 5/5 due to how creative Tarsem is as a director and the story he was able to put on the screen and this is also probably the only good film Jennifer Lopez has in her filmography.

The video is a real problematic transfer. In most scenes, it looks great and a real upgrade from the New Line Cinema DVD from 2000 when the film came out. However, especially in the opening, there's lots of specs and dirt over the image. Also at one point these weird and crazy lines show up on the scene while they about to go into the killer's mind. But after the first twenty minutes or so, the transfer is pretty much smooth sailing. THIS FILM NEEDS TO BE REMASTERED!!! 3/5 for the video.

This Blu-ray contains three audio tracks like most of Alliance's exclusive releases; English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. The disc starts on default with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, which you'll have to switch over to the English 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio. I listened to the film with the DTS-HD MA audio and I was quite pleased with the track. I've checked through and felt that the two Dolby Digital tracks were on the flat side. Audio gets a 4/5.

Almost every Alliance exclusive has no extras, including this one. Overall, if you want to upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, I'd recommend it if you can get it for $10. So far, as of July 2011, this is the only release of the film and I do not see Warner Bros releasing this title any time soon. If WB's master is just as bad as the Alliance master, they need to remaster it without question. That's probably why it has not been released here in the U.S. However, as I do state all the cons about this release, it still scores a 3/5 which isn't that much of a disaster.