Plot:Based on the short story by Richard Matheson, "The Box" stars Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis and James Marsden as Arthur Lewis, a suburban couple with a young child who receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences.
A mysterious stranger, played by Frank Langella, 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 crosshairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.
Cast:Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Michael Zegen, James Rebhorn, Gillian Jacobs, Lisa K. Wyatt, Celia Weston, Holmes Osborne, Deborah Rush, Andrew Levitas, Basil Hoffman, Ryan Woodle, Jenna Lamia, Michele Durrett, John Magaro, Ian Kahn, Kevin DeCoste, Frank Ridley, Evelina Oboza, Patrick Canty, Donald Warnock, Scott Winters, Nicholas Cairis, Allyssa Maurice, Sam Oz Stone, Sal Lizard, Kevin Robertson, Bill Thorpe, Chris Conte, Mark S. Cartier, Drew Rose, Kathleen Fitzgerald, Matthew C. Flynn, Floyd Richardson, Doug Dulaney, Sam Blumenfeld.
My Thoughts ecent only because of it's weirdness.
Review:"The Box" is the newest horror-thriller or "throrror" film to hit cinemas, with two big stars in the cast. Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. The film, which is based on the novel by Richard Matheson, is set in 1978 and follows a normal couple Norma (Diaz), and Arthur (Marsden), who albeit have a nice home and a beautiful family, are having financial problems. That's when a mystery man played by Frank Langella, shows up with an offer. And a device, which he calls "The Box".
If Norma pushes the button, she will recieve 1 million dollars in cash (funny how in these sorts of movies 1 million is always the offer?). Anyways, her 1 million won't come without a price. Someone she doesn't know will die. Will Norma and Arthur decide to push the button, and become instantly wealthy, or...will they resist the temptation of the dark strangers offer? Now keep in mind, these days, 1 million dollars, even tax-free, isn't much considering the cost of living in current America. But back in 1978, 1 million could go a long way.
So you can see why in the movie, Norma and Arthur, despite the strangers warnings, have to consider his offer. Eventually, they do make a decision on whether or not to push the button, but the twist ends up being very cleverly tied to marriage and family in general. As in family's make decisions together. In this movie, a harsh move with just one person thinking of themselves, instead of the bigger picture, ends up causing a universal catastrophe for Arthur, Norma, and even the children.
The film is without a doubt performance driven, but Richard Kelly is smart enough to tape down the weaknesses displayed by Diaz and Marsden in the acting department. Neither of their characters in this film are very entertaining to watch. And what we as viewers end up focusing on, is the overall scenario involving the titular "Box". But Kelly always makes sure to inject a healthy dose of Frank Langella into the film at the most generic, boring, and uninteresting moments. Knowing full well that it's his character that will end up carrying this movie to the promise land. Which is true.
Langella as the creepy stranger is the most intriguing character of the movie, and has a screen presence none of the other characters have. So whenever we get tired of everyone else, Kelly always makes sure to throw in a weird Frank Langella moment where his character calls Norma on the phone, gives Arthur a photo, or makes some random appearance to let the couple know he is watching them. The film relies on this formula for most of it's duration, and it works for the most part. Meanwhile, the script is pretty much going nowhere, and it realizes this.
It realizes that a movie about a box with a red button isn't gonna keep anyone interested for nearly 2 hours. So the movie offers up then, a mystery which is basically a swirl of "Village Of The Damned", "Invasion", and a few other alien/sci-fi/smalltown conspiracy flicks. This of course includes the usual weird people saying weird things, nosebleeds being poxed upon random people, characters being followed by strangers, and then forced into vehicles by said strangers, dimensional portals, weird scenes where groups of bug-eyed people are following and stalking a character, and etc, etc.
That element doesn't do much for the film though, except ratchet up the weirdness angle to astronomical levels. But of course, when you find out that the movie has a heavy NASA, space travel influence within it, it pretty much gives away everything that its to come. But the movie still has a use, because while it gives you all the pieces of what's happening with the NASA subplot, it still has to piece it all together for you up until the finale. Because this film has so many different pots cooking that figuring everything out ebfore the end is virtually impossible.
The movies finale is really powerful however, and we finally get some emtion from Marsden and Diaz's characters when they are forced to make a tough decision which will affect their family forever once it's been made. A tough, and fatal decision, which ties into the mysterious stranger and his box. In the end, "The Box" doesn't offer up any real scares, any memorable moments, or any high levels of blood, gore, and carnage.
But it does boast a high creep factor and a sinister and horrific mystery which thinkers should enjoy trying to figure out before it all unfolds on screen. If you want something new and intriguing, check out "The Box". However, if you like loads of action, suspense, thrills, and a modest amount of violence to go along with, the ominous and sinister mystery elements, might wanna try a different movie.
Positives:Langella gives a good performance as the films villain, Diaz and Marsden rise to the occasion during the finale. A somber ending, and an intriguing mystery element which carries the movie throguh some tough moments.
Negatives:The film can get boring and lag during many different moments without Langella on screen. Not a lot of action or suspense here, and thrills are totally absent.
Overall:Two out of four stars.
Review by Mr. HoRrOr at Horror Movies &stuff - http://www.hms.notlong.co
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