The Box is the latest by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales). It is based on a short story by Richard Matheson called "Button, Button". It is my understanding that the story has already been a Twilight Zone episode.
Richard Matheson also wrote the source material for "The Omega Man" and also wrote many memorable Twilight Zone scripts, so I think I would be safe in saying that the fault here seems to be Kelly's. The story, set in 1976, starts out as a moral quandry. Arthur and Norma Lewis (James Marsden and Cameron Diaz) receive a box in the middle of the night. The couple finds inside the box is a button and a note. The note says that the person, Arlington Steward, who left the box will meet them at 5pm. The couple is dealing with some issues. Arthur has been working for NASA as a developer of optics. His hopes of becoming an astronaut are dashed when he learns he failed his psychological profile. Norma is feeling the strain of being a college professor who's tuition will be cut in the next semester. The time of the meeting comes and Arlington proposes to Norma that the button, if pressed, will do two things, the first being that someone that they don't know somewhere in the world will die and that they will recieve $1 million dollars. He tells her that there are some rules and one is that she may not share this information with anyone but her husband and the police may not be called or that would nullify the deal.
An intriguing setup for a labored mess of a movie. The moral quandry is but a small piece of the movie. The couple make their choice and then seem to be victims of a conspiracy of sorts. What could have been a very intriguing thriller then becomes a muddled sci-fi film that fails to follow through with the plot lines that it sets up. At a running time of over two hours, the film is much longer than it should be. The film makes many wrong turns and is extremely uninvolving. The plot's twists and turns are unbelievable and unsatisfying. Do yourself a favor and don't open this box.
Comments
Probably the most disappointing movie I've seen this year. Certainly had potential in the beginning, and then it just wandered off into an extremely confusing and outlandish plot. Wouldn't recommend it to anybody. I still want my money back.
I love Richard Kelly's previous films, but I'm dissappointed to hear how "The Box" turned out on screen.
I find it interesting that no one mentions the original Twilight Zone show from years ago with this exact plot. This movie is a remake of a successful episode of that show, which I still remember seeing.
Pauline, I have not seen that episode but I have heard Matheson's name around. I have heard he wrote some fantastic pieces like the gremlin on the plane twilight zone episode. So, I would like to see the original unfortunately, I think that was only Kelly's jumping off point and I feel he probably took it in an entirely new and unwelcome direction.
Jonathan, I was not a huge admirer of Donnie Darko but I felt that Southland Tales was hugely underrated. Very funny star packed mind tease sci-fi concoction.
James, I'm with you it was horrible.
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