Release Date: November 6, 2009
Official Site: Here
Usually when a film falls into the production/distribution hell that Richard Kelly's The Box did, it's not a good sign. Most of the time it means that the film is just not managing to accomplish what it set out to do. Likewise, it is hardly ever a good thing when no pre-release press screenings are held for a movie. This usually means that the studio is afraid that most of the reviews will be negative and ruin any shot of good box office for the film on opening weekend.However, this year has been an exception to the rule because a few films that were floating around in limbo for a couple years managed to finally come our way, and they were pretty damn great. Two stellar examples of this were Michael Dougherty's love letter to Halloween, Trick 'r Treat, and Oren Peli's indie sensation, Paranormal Activity. Those movies not only met my expectations, but they greatly exceeded them and managed to outshine the hype surrounding them.
With this in mind, I set off to see The Box, hoping that this trend would continue and that I could write this review to tell you that Kelly had wowed me with it. Unfortunately, he didn't, so I guess the streak ends here, folks...
By now I'm sure you know the story:
It's Winter 1976, and Norma and Arthur Lewis (played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) are given a nondescript box by a strange man, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), who leaves it on their doorstep early one morning. The box is locked, but the couple can see that it holds a single red button inside. A note attached says that Steward will return later that evening to talk to them about it.
The day passes, and sure enough, Steward returns. Norma is the only one home, and she lets him into the kitchen, where he explains that he has a proposition for her. It's a simple one: If she takes the key he has and unlocks the box and presses the button, she will recieve $1 million in cash. The catch: Someone somewhere, that she does not know, will die.Steward leaves Norma to discuss it with her husband when he arrives home from his job at NASA. The two go back and forth about whether the or not the offer is legitimate. After all, it seems ludicrous to them that such a thing could be possible. However, they eventually come to the decision that the consequences may, in fact, be real. And, though it seems obvious that the catch is a huge one, the family is having money problems, so the two do not rule out the possibility of going through with it.
While discussing it yet again, Norma decides to press the button, regardless of what may happen. This sets in motion a series of strange events that threaten to bring the Lewises, and their son (Sam Oz Stone), to the very brink of madness.
The story is based on an old Twilight Zone episode entitled "Button, Button," which was written by the usually brilliant sci-fi author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Hunted Past Reason). Having never seen that episode, I can't say what the main differences are, other than the longer running time (no doubt filled with exposition that is not needed). However, I will tell you that Kelly's script is uneven and convoluted and that it threatens to cave in on itself several times over the course of the film.
While the movie starts off entertaining enough, it eventually skews wildly into a ridiculous direction around the 45 minute mark. It introduces more and more layers to the story that never really add anything except for confusion. In the end, things do come together in a fashion, but the final explanation, while partially left up to the viewer, is pretty unfulfilling. When I walked out, I was left wondering exactly why Kelly felt the need to dump so much into such a simple concept.Now, before you start accusing me of not being able to think for myself, and all that happy horseshit, take into consideration that I am not faulting this movie for being strange and vague. After all, I loved Kelly's mindfuck film, Donnie Darko, and that movie is about as open to interpretation as they come. However, The Box really just feels like the director took a simple concept and then added a bunch of weird shit in just to make it confusing. While the strangeness of Darko added to its watchability and charm, it just feels very out of place here.
Another huge gripe that I have with the film is its look. While all of the set pieces and costumes get the 70's period down pat, the film look just ruins it. The movie was shot and digital, and it was painfully obvious to me that this was the case while I watched it. Again, don't interpret this as me saying that filming in digital is a bad thing... I just think that, in this situation, it would have added more realism and depth to the look had it been made with regular film stock. Watching the 70's in digital was just way too distracting in the end because it just looked too damn clear, which gave it a soap opera-type feel. Ironically enough, Kelly himself accused Director Tony Scott of pulling the exact same foul with his film Domino, which was also set in the 70's.
On the positive side of things, though, if you ignore the awkwardness of the digital filming, the cinematography is quite good. There are a lot of great shots in the film, and many of them are pretty haunting and beautiful. However, don't get me started on the CGI in the film; especially the burn scars on Stewards face, which are so terrible-looking that it bugged the hell out of me. Some of the shots with (obvious) digital effects just looked hideous.
Another thing about the movie that's not bad is the acting. For the most part, I think that everyone involved did a good job. Diaz was fairly believable as a woman torn between protecting her family and destroying someone else's, and Marsden wasn't bad at portraying a man who is slowly losing touch with what may or may not be real. Also, aside from the distracting and terrible CGI face, Langella does his usual bang-up job; even if his character becomes ridiculous and annoying by the end of the film (that's the script's fault, not his). And Stone does a nice job as the family's little boy.The score, which was done by Canadian band The Arcade Fire, was also very good. It did a great job setting the mood; especially during some of the creepier parts of the film. It also captures the spiralling madness of things very well by starting off nice and happy and decomposing slowly over the course of things into a dark, moody soundscape.
In the end, The Box was more than a little bit of a disappointment. Not only did Kelly fail to live up to his potential again (Southland Tales, anyone?), but he did it even with a good initial premise and a great cast. To be honest, it kind of felt like the main reason the film was so underwhelming was that it just tried too hard to shove all the weirdness of Donnie Darko into a movie that didn't need it. There was just way more going on than was necessary, and I think that at least 15-20 minutes could be taken out of the film.
In the end, we're just left with an overblown, confusing, and slightly misogynistic (all of those who press the button are females in search of money), version of W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw; only with the realization of the consequences put up front. Also, not only did I find the climax utterly unsatisfying, but it seemed more than a little silly to me.
If Kelly can manage to reel himself in a bit the next time he sits in the Director's chair, we may just get another great film out of him. However, until he stops making things much more complicated and strange than they need to be, we'll be left constantly disappointed.
Verdict:
2 1/2 out of 5
