The Box

Would you take a life for a million dollars? Would you press a button knowing you are sacrificing another person’s life? That’s the question we are given in The Box.

It all starts with a doorbell going off early in the morning and a package appearing at a door. The husband and wife open the door to find the package which holds a box and a message to say that they will have a visitor later in the day. He of course appears and tells the wife that if she presses the button she will be given a million dollars. It’s all given straight forwardly to her, she knows that somebody somewhere in the world will die when she presses the button, so it’s all her choice. Of course the frailty of human nature leads to her pressing the button and that’s when things really go bad for the family. This of course is where I start to get annoyed by the movie.

The opening part of the movie before the box is opened is not badly made; it’s just bland and boring. There is nothing to keep the watchers interest, but when the button is pressed prepare to be confused. In truth the story is simple, it’s a morality tale where the answer is of course staring us in the face, and you don’t press the button. This movie assumes that all people who have the choice to press the button or not are likely to press it, it assumes that people are really that stupid. It’s based on the fact that humans are greedy and selfish and if they have a chance to be rich they will take it.

The problem is of course, if that’s what the entire movie centred on it would be pretty short. So what Richard Kelly as the screenwriter and director appears to do is “Donnie Darko it up”. Donnie Darko was a good movie, I liked it a lot but it could be very confusing if you did not understand what was going on. What Kelly appears to have done in this movie is to try and add the same level of complication in hopes of getting another cult hit where people have to think about what’s going on. If it worked, then excellent this would have been a very enjoyable movie, but it doesn’t. Just putting random people into the scene who just stare at the husband and wife for no reason is just confusing, and after an hour of this happening gets boring. Yes, I understand that this is because they are being used by Arlington Steward to keep an eye on the couple but it just does not work.

On top of the weird people who stare a lot you also have the confusion of who Arlington Steward even is. Frank Langella does a good job in this role and is believable as the creepy but almost caring stranger who passes the boxes onto unsuspecting victims. He manages to appear to be a detached character who (based on his situation) has to appear to be not of this world. His acting ability though can’t get past the fact that the Steward storyline is flawed. They find a way to kill him but never use it? The government just accept whatever he says without questions about what exactly is controlling him? All we pretty much know is he COULD be possessed by some creature from Mars who has been sent to put the human race on trial. Getting the feeling this is confusing? I’m sure you are.

The acting in this movie is not bad really; both Cameron Diaz and James Marsden play the roles of the tortured couple quite well. It’s just a shame they did not have more to work with really because this movie could have been good, but it’s not. This movie is just dull, it’s boring and it’s depressing. It’s so depressing I’d go as far as saying it’ll make you slit your wrists. The characters are stupid; they show they lack the ability to actually make a choice, almost as if pressing the button is a predetermined fact. The fact that so many people press the button shows that we as the human race are weak and will always choose the money if we can take it easily enough. I do have to wonder, would I press the button? I think I would.

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