The Box (2009)
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Duration: 115 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Richard Kelly
Stars: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella
IMDb score:
5,6 (97.936)
Releasedate: 17 September 2009
The Box plot
"All you have to do is push the button."
Norma and Arthur Lewis, a young couple living in the suburbs, receive a simple wooden box as a gift. A stranger comes by with the message that the owner of the box will receive $1,000,000 if he presses a button. But the push of a button also causes someone else in the world to die, someone they don't know. With the box only in their possession for 24 hours, Norma and Arthur are faced with a dilemma. Based on the "Button, Button" episode of The Twilight Zone.
Actors and actresses
Norma Lewis
Arthur Lewis
Arlington Steward
Norm Cahill
Dick Burns
Walter Lewis
Dana
Lana Burns
Rhonda Martin
Martin Teague
Reviews & comments
Vinokourov
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- 3143 messages
- 2909 votes
Donnie Darko by Richard Kelly is a really good film, has some mysterious moments but as a whole a nice reasonably coherent film to watch. With The Box, Richard Kelly goes a bit more bizarre, so much so that the film derails. The first half with the build-up to 'are they going to press that yes or no button' is still doable. A bit ordinary, but hey. However, the second half is full of supernatural shit, which is completely out of the blue. Acting performances were also only so-so, I can't make much of it. 2.5* so.
Translated from Dutch · View original
knusse stoel
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- 3330 messages
- 4479 votes
"The Box" isn't what most viewers expect, at least I assumed it would be a moral and philosophical exploration of a couple's choice between having money and a stranger die because of it or none of it. Moral and philosophical ideas are presented, but in such a way that I didn't really understand them.
At first glance it is a thriller, science fiction and slightly creepy in nature. But the word "superficial" should not be used, because there is nothing superficial about this film. It's not easy or straight forward. It is a heart-wrenching, suspense-thriller, told with eerie and supernatural, otherworldly experiences and illustrations.
But it's not an action movie either, it's closer to a philosophical discussion than to action.
To watch "The Box" you have to be open to watching a movie that cannot be explained and that in most interpretations of it doesn't make sense, and that is slow and suspenseful. Intelligent science fiction thriller would be the best categorization. Fans of that genre should definitely watch; also recommended for fans of Solaris (2002)
Rating: a 7+.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Roger Thornhill
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- 6195 messages
- 2546 votes
A film that actually makes me very angry: a great premise, three excellent and very suitable actors for the lead roles, everything looks beautiful – and then suddenly the director starts adding things that unnecessarily complicate things and sometimes even make things incomprehensible (those three gates? those zombie-like pursuers in the library? Dana's role?). Perhaps all those elements were necessary to stretch the plot to feature length (Button button, the 1986 Twilight Zone episode based on this story, which DFW kindly provided on its DVD release, lasts 20 minutes), but as far as I'm concerned Richard Kelly should have come up with something else, because all the explanations about alien interference take way too long and are presented in such a chaotic and uninteresting way that they for me more annoyance than to create clarity.
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