The Box

[Bourne101]

Directed by Richard Kelly

Written by Richard Kelly

Genre: Thriller

Plot Outline: Norma and Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger, delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.

Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime: 115 minutes

Great concept, but it's all about the execution. I'll see it, but my expectations aren't all that high. Cameron Diaz also looks TERRIBLE from the trailers. She needs to stick to rom-coms. She was pretty dreadful in the recent My Sister's Keeper and has never been very good in serious roles.

[ilovemovies]

Oh, I couldn't disagree more on Diaz. She was exceptional in My Sister's Keeper. It's the best acting she's ever done. And my OTHER favorite performance of hers is in Any Given Sunday. So Diaz, don't just stick to romcoms. Continue challenging that yourself. I also loved her in Vanilla Sky. And though I wasn't a fan of the movie itself, she was nonetheless fantastic in Being John Malkovich.

That said, I'm not too sure about this movie. It's an intriguing concept, and the trailer looks okay but if what Diaz said about the ending is true, I'm liable to throw something at the screen.

[DareDevil]

Donnie Darko was great... Southland Tales was horrible... this movie is really make ir or break it for Richard Kelly, i hope it's good.

[Highspeed]

My dad was real into the short story this was based on when he was a kid, so me and him are gonna be checkin this out...it looks interesting.

[cloneofkelso]

This movie looks interesting,would'nt mind checking it out.Donnie Darko is one of my faves.

[Jig Saw 123]

Every time I see the commercial on tv I honestly start laughing, this movie looks ridiculously stupid, but I'm still going to catch it just to see how it ends.

[CosmicPuppet]

Guys, found the movie on youtube. I guess the studio's not really paying attention to the leaks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGsblgwCaKc

[LordSimen]

While I like this movie better than Kelly's previous efforts, this movie is definitely not without it's own problems. The script needed some serious reworking, particularly in the dialogue department. A lot of the interactions between the family in the beginning scene just felt dry and way too expositional at times. But that's not to say the dialogue doesn't have it's moments. Parts such as Frank Langella's "Box" speech toward the end the end of the piece prove that Kelly can write wonderful stuff when he wants to. The acting in the piece, which may come partly from the directing, seems to be all over the place. James Marsden and Frank Langella prove to be the highlights, however Cameron Dias' performance seems to come and go. Overall, I'd say this is a solid piece that could have been better. 7/10

[QUENTIN]

I'm just amazed that after Southland Tales they let this guy make a movie again.

What happened to the Heaven's Gate days when you had to atone for years for a money-sucking, universally maligned monumental fuckup like that before you got the opportunity to direct again?

Hollywood sucks in direct proportion to how much it allows people to fail up.

[Moviefan02000]

I honestly have no idea what to say about this movie.

I'm a gigantic fan of DONNIE DARKO, it's been one of my favorite movies for years. With that being said, I blind bought SOUTHLAND TALES and couldn't even make it through the entire thing.

When the trailer for this came out I thought it was a really cool concept and that it looked really great. The first 45 minutes or so were wonderful. Very suspenseful and entertaining. It really started going downhill when the whole thing with the babysitter started going on. The last hour of the movie was just... so corny and cheesy. While the ideas were good, just weren't executed on film well at all.

And the ending, which could have been GREAT was ruined be horrible dialogue and awful music.

I walked out of the theater saying "that movie was absolutely terrible." And honestly, it wasn't very good at all. But I do like it more than I did last night. I honestly can't stop thinking about it because it was just so... bad. But it was never boring. I think it will work better on a second viewing, so you know what will expect.

5/10 ( C )

[JCPhoenix]

I have to disagree about the music at the end (and in the film in general) - I thought the score was the best part of the film (although it is utilized a little too much I think). I was excited for the score since the members of Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett were writing it but I didn't expect something so lush and old-school. It really had that haunting paranoia sound that Bernard Hermann did so well. The music in the library scene in particular stood out to me.

As for the film as a whole, I thought it just didn't quite gel into something fully cohesive for me though I did enjoy the watch. I think I needed a little more action from Marsden and Diaz throughout and I also didn't get into their relationship enough for the ending to work the way Kelly wanted it to. I dug the story overall but I think another pass on the dialogue would have helped make some of the exposition less obvious and awkward.

I'd rate it about a 6/10 because it is a movie I am thinking about after the fact. But I'm still on-the-fence about Richard Kelly.

For the record, my two friends who I saw it with both liked it a lot more than I did.

[APzombie]

I guess Kelly thinks it a blessing to ascend to mediocrity after a cinematic atrocity.

He's one of the most overrated storytellers of recent memory. One of those cases where it seems he literally has wool over everyone's eyes with Donnie Darko.

[Mr. Peanut]

Originally Posted by APzombie

I guess Kelly thinks it a blessing to ascend to mediocrity after a cinematic atrocity.

He's one of the most overrated storytellers of recent memory. One of those cases where it seems he literally has wool over everyone's eyes with Donnie Darko.

I liked Donnie Darko AND Southland Tales. I was planning on catching The Box over this weekend, but I came down with some nasty cold or something on Thursday. In any case, I think Southland Tales is kind of underrated, and so is he. Outside Movie-buff Land no one has heard of the man.

[fooknasty]

Man, I really enjoyed the first hour or so of this movie. It was really suspenseful and had me guessing what was going to happen from one scene to the next.

Unfortunately, the last hour took a really weird turn.


SPOILERS

I thought it was really interesting that they used the drones as a way to get closer to the couple, but when they started popping up all over the place, following him in the library, it became slightly comical. Also, the floating water towers and the space traveling really bogged this movie down.

END SPOILERS


I really enjoyed the performances by James, Cameron, and Frank and the stylized direction was really working for the first half, but man.....what a torrid change of pace in the second half.

5 maybe 6/10

[Ender]

I guess, like DONNIE DARKO before it, THE BOX is both more and less than the sum of it's parts. It has a wonderful cast who fully inhabit their characters, it has a talented writer/director who excels at creating tension and atmosphere, and it has a great concept and the frame of a fascinating morality tale. On paper, this should be enough to make it a good if not a great movie.

But, like DONNIE DARKO, some things about THE BOX don't add up. It's a puzzle that's missing pieces. Some of the mysterious people and events in this film are never adequately explained in the end. The resolution is too ambiguous for its own good, and the movie could stand to have about twenty minutes trimmed to keep it from bogging down and growing tedious, as it does in the third act.

Still, I have to say, I really loved some of what THE BOX does. Take the main couple's money problems, for example; we're to believe they're "Living paycheck to paycheck". But Diaz is a teacher at a fancy private school, and Marsden works for fucking NASA. Their house seems nice (if hideously decorated) and their car looks like something James Bond should be having a chase scene in.

At first it seems inconsistent to have us believe they're desperate for money, but what seems like a throwaway line from Diaz about how they have a habit of overspending puts it into perspective. These aren't humble, blue collar working folk we're dealing with here. They already have and enjoy the good life; problem is, they want the great life. This puts the morality of the decision they have to make into a whole different zone. The movie doesn't take the cheap way out by playing to our sympathies with the kind of hard-working, underappreciated 20th century peasants you see in lots of flicks. That's a gutsy move, and one that might not jump out at you right off the bat.

[EDsoulsurvive*]

Originally Posted by fooknasty

Man, I really enjoyed the first hour or so of this movie. It was really suspenseful and had me guessing what was going to happen from one scene to the next.

Unfortunately, the last hour took a really weird turn.


SPOILERS

I thought it was really interesting that they used the drones as a way to get closer to the couple, but when they started popping up all over the place, following him in the library, it became slightly comical. Also, the floating water towers and the space traveling really bogged this movie down.

END SPOILERS


I really enjoyed the performances by James, Cameron, and Frank and the stylized direction was really working for the first half, but man.....what a torrid change of pace in the second half.

5 maybe 6/10

Yeah I think Richard Kelly needs to restrain himself and his overpowering sci-fi urges. The Box had all the elements of a fantastic sci-fi tinged thriller, but the library scene and the portals were fucking nuts. Like you're-insanse-and-I'd-do-best-to-ignore-you nuts.

The more I think about The Box the more I like it, although it was still one goddamn mess of a movie. 6/10

And it seems to be getting criticized, but I'd consider adding a point for the score.

[Ender]

Can I ask though, what was up with that kid? He needed some serious belt time. Is it just me, or are child characters in movies these days almost universally a bunch of obnoxious, disrespectful little brats? Were we really expected to care?

[ilovemovies]

Guess I'm the only who LOVED this movie! Not just like, but loved it. It's very intriguing with some really interesting moral dilemmas, strong sympathetic performances from Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as well as a really creepy one from Frank Langella. It all builds up to a powerful ending. This is by far Richard Kelly's best movie yet. Better than Donnie Darko. WAY better than the so-so Southland Tales. I was lukewarm on Kelly before this movie, consider me an official fan of his now.

8/10



BTW, speaking of the music, is it me, or did sometimes seem like a copy of the music from Lost. There were times when I definitely got a Lost vibe from the score. But that's not necessarily a bad thing since I happen to think that the music from Lost is amazing!