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I thought it was pretty slow at points but the overall feel and acting in the film was great and top notch. Very weird like all of Kelleys movies but still not that bad. I wouldnt go see this in theaters, you should wait until the DVD release.
ok..i was expecting another donnie darko from the review i read up here but it wasnt
it was decent the acting was great and had a few good scenes that really provoked my mind and had a really powerful ending
but the rest i didnt care about..go ee it or rent it
Posted By: Jackcalvert at 4:14am, November 8, 2009
'Donnie Darko' director Richard Kelly's latest film, 'The Box,' stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as Norma and Arthur Lewis, a young couple whose momentary lapse of judgment results in a punishing ordeal.
One day, a mysterious parcel arrives on their doorstep. Inside is a black box with a red button. There is also a note from a 'Mr. Steward' indicating that he will return at 5:00 PM to explain about the box.
The mysterious Arlington Steward, played by Frank Langella, shows up at the appointed hour, nattily attired in a Savile Row suit. He is polite but businesslike, however his most noticeable feature is his face, half of which appears to have been blown off and improperly attended to. Langella is the only thing worth watching in the movie, however he is unfortunately upstaged by his own makeup, which resembles that of Harvey 'Two Face' Dent (Aaron Eckhart) from Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight.' It's like the elephant in the room: you can try to ignore it, but it's a little distracting.
As Steward explains, he will return in 24 hours to collect the button from the Lewises. If, during that time, they decide to unlock and push the button, he will give them $1 million cash. The only catch--and it's a big one--is that somewhere a stranger will die. It might be across town, it might be on another continent, however Steward assures them the victim will be someone unknown to them. As a show of good faith, he leaves them with a crisp $100 bill, theirs to keep whether they push the button or not.
The Lewises are initially skeptical, believing the whole thing to be a scam or an elaborate hoax, however they begin to wonder what would happen if they did push the button? Would they really get a million dollars? Would somebody really die?
Weary of the speculation, Norma slaps the button. Nothing apparently happens, however when Steward shows up the next day with a briefcase full of cash, the Lewises are alarmed. They decide to call the whole thing off, however as Steward tells them, 'It's too late. You've already pushed the button.' As Steward's limo pulls away, Arthur notes the license plate number, which he later learns is registered to the NSA (National Security Agency).
At this point the film begins to veer deeply into unfollowable territory as the secondary characters start springing nosebleeds and flashing peace signs. Meanwhile, the town becomes invaded by a bunch of pudgy, slack-jawed geeks in bad shirts, who start following Arthur around like an advance scouting party for a race of zombie alien nerds. Arthur eventually becomes trapped by the menacing bookworms in the library, where Steward's spinsterish wife shows up--whom we haven't seen till now--and informs Arthur that his only way out is through one of the three vertical columns of cheesy-looking digital water effects. 'What happens if I choose the wrong one?', Arthur asks, seeming far less baffled than he ought to be under the circumstances, and certainly far less baffled than the audience is by this time. 'Eternal damnation,' the spinster says ominously.
It's confusing, I know.
We eventually learn that Steward was once the public relations officer for the NSA, until he was struck by a lightning bolt that destroyed part of his face. He was pronounced dead, but later came back to life, having been transformed into a sort of superman who now serves 'the ones who make the lightning,' and whose powers have enabled him to take over the CIA, the NSA, and NASA all by himself.
And what is the point of all this nattering rubbish? Steward's mission, it seems, is to subject humans to a kind of biblical character test (e.g., the 'Binding of Isaac'), to determine whether they are worth saving. If enough people pass the 'button test' by refusing to push it, Steward's god-like overlords will spare the race. Unfortunately, the people who do push the button, such as Norma and Arthur, must be punished for their moral spinelessness, to which end they are subjected to a series of dreary 'Lady or the Tiger' ordeals that play out like one of those 'Saw' movies without the redeeming gore or the benefit of a coherent plot.
'The Box' represents the sort of pointless mental masturbation that freshman philosophy students like to blather on about after a few beers. Richard Kelly's tedious exercise in existentialist pettifoggery eventually collapses under the weight of its own incomprehensibility; the tortured melange of insupportable ideas eventually congeals, as with the mixing together of too many colors, into a meandering gray goo of a film as insipid as one of those narcotizing in-flight movies the plot of which suffers no more or less from having been interrupted by a leisurely nap.
There is a point in the film where Arthur, who is a technically-minded guy, becomes curious about how the button works. Opening up the unit, he is disappointed to find nothing inside.
Having seen 'The Box,' I know exactly how he feels.
Posted By: cheluvshorror at 2:22am, November 8, 2009
During and after viewing this science fiction wannabe, I felt very much like I was "sucker punched" into seeing this movie (paying full price too) because of all the advertising and not just on this site.
This film was very dull and there was not enough character development for my taste. The premise was shoddy at best. Even Cameron Diaz seemed to be in a daze throughout her role, and definitely suffered the ultimate sacrifice for her "decision". No spoiling here.
Too much hype with out any real spark, so much so that I nodded off to sleep a few times. It was very disappointing to watch, because I had such high hopes. Next time, I will keep my expectations low.
Posted By: Chris is Dead at 1:33am, November 7, 2009
Hilarious....From Cameron diaz's horrible southern accent, to the retro soundtrack, and some other things. i tried to be in this "serious" mind set, but things meant to be weird just came out hilarious to me. it was funnier than some comedies i've seen recently.
Posted By: Mykill Diablo at 1:17am, November 7, 2009
This film proves that Richard Kelly has the ability to show a lot more restraint than Southland Tales led me to believe was thought possible. The Box was an engaging, bizarre, cerebral, retro, and surprisingly subtle film that was honestly a lot of fun to watch. Definitely not a movie for everyone, and I can already see a lot of people leaving the theater perplexed and disappointed b/c it was definitely marketed as a much different (and much more low-brow) film than it really was. A lot of the bizarre sci-fi stuff went way over my head, but it never bored me either. In fact, if anything, it made me want to see the movie again to try to get a better grasp of what was happening. Not at all a horror film, in fact it was more of a personal family-oriented drama than anything, but it definitely had a macabre sense of impending doom that did not disappoint in the very dark and satisfying ending.
Posted By: chainsawboi25 at 8:16pm, November 6, 2009
The creator of Donnie Darko brings you a twilight zone themed tale of the oddest fashion. The film centers on a middle aged young couple living paycheck to paycheck in 1976. One day a mysterious box appears with a red button. Later on that day a spooky gentleman shows up and tells them that they have the choice to press the button and receive a million dollars but someone they don't know will die. It's a disturbing and provocative question suspensefully outlined in the trailer and TV spots. But let it be known that you just don't know what your in for until you see it. At times pretentious and a bit melodramatic the film is ultimately effective because of it's good performances and intriguing subject matter. It would be unfair to ruin any of the plot twists for you but lets just say the film will deliver on the aspects you expect it to and not completely fufill others it begins to outline. There's a lot of apparent symbolism and subtext in the film which is both interesting and annoying as it wasn't so evident in his other superior film Donnie Darko. There isn't too much more to say without ruining the film for you. it's meant to inspire lots of cafe chatter afterwards. However, i'd also like to say It's shot well and has an appropriately aged look to it and it's worth a watch. Check it out.
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