The Box (2009)

Directed by: Richard Kelly | 115 minutes | horror, thriller, science fiction | Actors: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn, Holmes Osborne, Sam Oz Stone, Gillian Jacobs, Celia Weston, Deborah Rush, Lisa K. Wyatt, Mark Cartier, Kevin Robertson, Michele Durrett, Ian Kahn, John Magaro, Ryan Woodle, Basil Hoffman, Robert Harvey, Gentry Lee, Andrew Levitas, Gabriel Field, Frank Ridley, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Matthew C. Flynn, Patrick Canty, Sam Blumenfeld, Kevin DeCoste, Mary Klug, Allyssa Maurice, Danny DeMiller, Michael Zegen , Rachael Hunt, Cheryl McMahon, Evelina Oboza, Bill Buell, Paul Marini, Donald Warnock, W. Kirk Avery, Don Hewitt, Floyd Richardson, David R. McDonough, Rick L’Heureux, Nicholas Cairis, Robert Denton, Paul Locke, Danielle heaton

Becoming a millionaire has never been easier: one push of a button is all it takes to get one million dollars in cash delivered to your home in a suitcase. There is a ‘but’: if you press the button, someone will die at the same time…

It is 1976 and we are in Richmond, Virginia. The young couple Arthur (James Marsden) and Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) have a hard time. They live from account to account and to make matters worse, the school where Norma teaches also decides to abolish the student discount. That means that from the next semester they suddenly have to pay the full price for their son Walter (Sam Oz Stone) …

Arthur works at the local NASA research center, where they recently made history with the successful landing of a research robot on Mars. Actually, he would like to become an astronaut, but that too is against him; he is unexpectedly rejected. Then one day, early in the morning, the doorbell rings at the family. A car drives away and a package is at the door. It contains a curious box with a red button. The accompanying note states that they will be visited that afternoon by a Mr. Steward (Frank Langella). This mysterious and mutilated man makes an offer for the Norma and Arthur: if they press the button within 24 hours, they will get one million dollars. Sounds good you would think. However, the consequence is that someone – an unknown person – will die at the same time… Do Norma and Arthur want this on their conscience? And is this the only ‘consequence’ they have to take into account?

‘The Box’ must be an ideal film to be allowed to make a trailer for. You take your time to explain the dilemma and the rules of the game around which the film is about and then work with lots of fast, exciting images to arouse the viewer’s curiosity even more: “how will this end?!” The answer is: somewhat disappointing. Director Richard Kelly – known for his cult hit ‘Donnie Darko’ (2001) – used the existing story ‘Button, Button’ (written by Richard Matheson) for this film. However, this story is so short that Kelly had to write a lot to make it into a full-fledged film. And that is noticeable. The strongest piece is clearly at the beginning (the dilemma and the mystery man); the path that ‘The Box’ takes after that – which Kelly has written herself – is at times weak, impossible to follow, melodramatic and sometimes even laughable. A bit of the same downer as you had to deal with with films like ‘Knowing’ (2009) and ‘Signs’ (2002), so to speak. Without the viewer having to fear flying saucers or Martians.

Is ‘The Box’ then pulp of the first order? No, not now either. First of all, Frank Langella is a joy to watch – certainly not taken literally here – and the era of the seventies is also beautifully rendered and enhances the atmosphere. The dilemma itself is, of course, food for discussion: what would you decide? Although it is also very clear here that there is a smell to the offer. You can feel in your clogs where the decision made will lead to. What keeps you in the grip is the tension. And that’s pretty enough considering Kelly’s slips here and there! The tension is also maintained by the incomplete and unclear explanations given for the how and why of it all. So you could say it was a happy accident.

‘The Box’ is a suspenseful, mysterious film that slowly descends into the abyss with no satisfying explanation for the mystery facing the Lewis family. The high expectations – partly caused by the trailer – can certainly not be met, but this is a typical film that can become a hit on DVD or Blu-ray!