Nostalgia is a funny thing. Sometimes it allows you to think back fondly on things that actually weren’t all that great, like flip phones or satellite radio. The early 2000s are enjoying a particular reappraisal now, and not for no reason. The millennium was a time of exponential growth: not just for tech or fashion, but for the kind of stories that could be told on-screen. There was a particular boom in thrillers about surveillance, paranoia, and connection — most filtered through the lens of a new gimmick. Films like Strange Days and The Net are just a few of the films that capitalized on our shifting relationship with technology. And sure, they haven’t all aged that well, but there’s usually something to enjoy in even the campiest projects of the 2000s.
You don’t have to look much farther than Cellular, a mid-noughties thriller starring Chris Evans and Kim Basinger, for proof of the latter. Cellular may be the ultimate personification of the era thanks to its gimmick alone. In short, it’s the story of a guy who gets a random call from a beautiful hostage across town, and he can only save her life by keeping his cell signal alive. The film lives and dies on the fallibility of early-2000s tech, as Evans’ trusty Nokia can’t always hold its own against a crossed connection or a dying battery. As a result, it’s probably the goofiest product of the era — but it’s also a lot more exhilarating than it has any right to be. Twenty years later, it even holds up as a compelling thriller, especially for those yearning for “simpler” times.
For those not entirely sold on the merits of Cellular, it may be worth noting that the cast is immaculately stacked. Evans is in great form here, relishing a role that (at least in hindsight) helped him transition from the smarmy jock archetype of Not Another Teen Movie to the hero material he’s now synonymous with. Basinger capably fills an otherwise-flat role as Jessica Martin, a science teacher and jack of all trades when it comes to anything STEM. Our unlikely allies also gain a great villain in Jason Statham: he’s one of the guys holding Jessica hostage at the top of the film.
Why Jessica finds herself the target of a group of criminals is not terribly important to Cellular. At the outset, all that really matters is that she’s trapped in the attic of her home, alone — Statham’s yet-unnamed thug even makes sure to smash the landline so she can’t call for help. Again though, Jessica is an impossibly-competent science teacher. By fiddling with the wires of her broken phone, she manages to send out a random call. As fate would have it, she ends up calling Ryan (Evans) — and though he’d much rather spend an afternoon on the beach, it doesn’t take long to get him swept up in a very unorthodox rescue mission.
The filmmakers behind Cellular seemed to understand that this kind of story wouldn’t be very viable for long, so they exhaust every potential wrinkle that could arise with a high-stakes call. Phones are smashed, signals drop, and lots of stuff explodes — but Ryan’s resilience never dies. He’s not quite Captain America here, but Evans’ manic determination is truly a sight to behold. His early work is full of hidden gems like Cellular, and few deserve a reappraisal quite like this one.
Despite the commitment of its cast, Cellular is not a serious movie. That said, it doesn’t really have to be. When everything else is operating on such a high level of efficiency — from its air-tight script (courtesy of Fast & Furious scribe Chris Morgan) to David R. Ellis’ “you wouldn’t steal a DVD” direction — it’s kinda hard to nitpick. For all its of-the-era gimmicks, it’s aged surprisingly well. The world has since moved on from the daily inconveniences that made this story possible in the first place, but that shouldn’t stop us from giving Cellular the respect it deserves.
