Box, The

I don’t know how to start this review so fuck it, I’ll start with the middle. “The Box” is about a married couple that lives in Virginia in the ‘70s. One day they are approached by a man who offers them a definitive moral dilemma, push a button and someone they don’t know will die and they will get a million dollars. It’s the kind of thing an eccentric billionaire would do just to screw with people. But in this movie the stakes are a bit higher (SPOILER ALERT: its aliens). At first this movie is kind of slow, it takes a little too long for the box to show up and then for them to press it (and you know they are going to press it otherwise the movie would be 10 minutes long). Since this movie has been out for a while I had heard other reviews that said it was pretty bad, but I disagree. Once the button is pressed it gets more interesting. Now it’s not a great movie but it’s definitely not a bad way to spend a couple hours. It’s really creepy at certain parts and it twists and turns in ways I didn’t see coming, but I don’t think anyone would have because it’s kind of stupid (SPOILER ALERT: its aliens). It’s like David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick crapped out a Twilight Zone episode.

Cameron Diaz was not great, the accent was a bad choice, but that’s not important. James Marsden was great and I don’t really understand why he isn’t in more stuff. The directing was really good in some parts and really not in others. The whole film has this look about it, like someone smeared vaseline on the camera lens. The soft focus was interesting but in the beginning it did make me feel like I wasn’t wearing my glasses. The director also directed “Donnie Darko” which is a film I thought was self-indulgent and too emo, and “Southland Tales” which I never saw. Somehow I feel confident enough to say that if you liked those movies you will probably like this one, because it’s better.

As far as the story goes, it’s not bad. It is an interesting interpretation of the source material. But the thing about this movie is it was interesting and satisfying enough for me to look up the source material. It was written by sci-fi legend Richard Matheson, who has had his work butchered by Hollywood very recently. His original short story is about the same dilemma however in his version the wife pushes the button and the husband dies, to which the box-man quips, “Did you really think you knew your husband?” To me this is a whole different type of story, and it’s powerful. Instead in the film really doesn’t delve that deeply and the resolution seems tacked on. The film actually goes a whole different direction with the story (SPOILER ALERT: its aliens) but nevertheless if you are along for the ride the movie is decent.