Many music video directors have graduated to the elite world of high tech film-making. There was Michael Bay (Armageddon), and Spike Jonze as well as countless others. Now, Tarsem Singh (he directed the video for R.E.M.'s 'Losing My Religion') tries his hand at the big screen with the visually sumptuous The Cell. Incidentally, the set for 'Losing My Religion' makes a brief cameo in the film, so watch closely.

In The Cell, Jennifer Lopez plays a therapist who enters the mind of a serial killer (Vincent D'Onofrio) via a virtual reality type gizmo, in an attempt to find the location of one of his victims. Vince Vaughn (Swingers) shows up as a police detective to help Lopez with her quest.

The Cell is another in a long list of films this summer in which the visual aspects of the movie take over because the story just can't hold it's own. The film has an interesting premise but it's hardly original, borrowing from films like Dreamscape, Brainstorm, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The plot tries to fuse the serial killer mentality of Seven and Silence of the Lambs with the visual splendor of Dark City and What Dreams May Come.

It succeeds visually but fails elsewhere, and never really manages to scare. Much of the imagery in the film comes across as creepy in itself, but a lot of it doesn't seem to pertain to the storyline. It also doesn't help that the climax of the film never really evokes any tension. Not once did I ever feel that any of these characters' lives were in danger.

Lopez and Vaughn don't fare very well in their one dimensional roles. In fact, some of their dialogue is downright laughable. In their defense, however, they're not working with the best of screenplays. D'Onofrio is the film's saving grace in terms of acting. He gives us a true portrait of a sympathetic, yet monstrous human being.

Singh is a director to watch. He keeps this convoluted mess moving at a brisk pace, and brings to the screen images never seen before. I also applaud him for staying away from the excessive CGI technology that has flooded cinema as of late. And although The Cell is terribly derivitive, Singh could have a huge career ahead of himself. I just hope he picks a more developed screenplay next time.

In the end, I had the same reaction to The Cell that I had to Hollow Man. The film started off promising, but then became less interesting as the plot settled in. All the effects and cool imagery in the world can't disguise a mediocre script.