THE BOX
March 10th 2010 16:23
copyrighted see below
What would you do, if your doorbell rang in the early hours of the morning, and you find just a brown paper wrapped box sitting on your door step? Open it? Call the cops? Maybe a bomb sniffer would be more appropriate in this paranoid age?
Well, our protagonists Norma and Arthur Lewis (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) have no qualms about opening it. Inside, a box with a big red button on top, just daring them to push it. So, just a prank they think, until the visit from the box’s delivery man, Mr. Arlington Steward, (Frank Langella). Besides identifying himself as the deliverer of the box, Steward has one other intriguing aspect, he is missing a big chunk of his face, you can even see his teeth through the side of his head.
Does this bother our heroine? Well no, she just lets him right in, and then, after he explains the bizarre offer, she still goes along with it, well, she agrees to take 24 hours to consider the situation; take the offer, or not.
Based on the original 1970 short story "Button, Button" by author Richard Matheson, director/writer Richard Kelly stated he had wanted to make a film from Matheson’s story ever since he first read it, in Playboy Magazine, as a curious youth...he was just reading Playboy for the interesting stories, I am sure.
While the basic premise is interesting, as it investigates the core morality of individuals and how their hard held tenets are tempered by temptation, made all the easier by the fact that it is a remote, non-confrontational event they must choose to have enacted, in order to get rewarded, the film however, overall does not build suspense enough for my liking. The reason being, right at the start, when the story is set up, it defies incredulity that anyone would have anything to do with this freakish man and his murderous box.
Still, a million bucks is a million bucks. The offer; you get to keep the million if you push the button, the catch; someone will be killed when you push it. I think it would have been more interesting to be able to choose a specific person, who was also a right bastard, like Osama Bin Laden, or Cheney for that matter.
While the plot has various complexities, not the least of which is ‘the box’ being used as a morality test, designed to discover whether the human race deserves to continue to exist or not, it just seems a ludicrous way to find that out, especially considering that ‘they’ (the anonymous box creators) actually carry out the killings.
The box creator's attitude to testing strikes me a bit like the Japanese needing to kill whales for ‘research’, and is about as psychopathic. It is an absurdity that an advanced civilisation, that presumes the moral high ground, would devise a morality test that actually kills innocent people, in order to see if an entire race of beings should survive.
What is actually far more fascinating (than the film) is the script writer and director Richard Kelly’s inspiration for the two main characters, and to a lesser degree their child. Kelly based them on his parents, and the child loosely on himself; his father was a NASA scientist who worked on the camera system for the Viking Explorer which is, last I heard, still trundling around the surface of Mars.
Kelly's mother had a terrible accident, as a 16 year old, when an incompetent radiologist left her foot to bake under X-Ray for five minutes, causing irreparable damage and resulting in partial amputation. Some years later, her hubby decided to make her a prosthetic insert for her foot so she could walk without a limp, using the same gel substance they used for the astronauts' seating.
These facts were incorporated into the storyline, but, I felt not enough background was given to Norma and Arthur Lewis' relationship, or their individual psychology, for the viewer to develop a strong simpatico. And one became even less sympathetic after they stupidly became more involved with Arlington Steward, instead of sending him packing.
Arlington tempts Roma
So, they agree to consider pushing the button, then, after the husband Arthur decided he finally believed there maybe something to this bizarre button, Norma suddenly pushes the button in a spur of the moment demonstration, saying she had decided not to believe the whole scenario. The sudden change of stance for both was odd, however, she pushed the button and nothing happens, not to them, at least.
When the husband tried to have the deal stopped, he was told it was too late, and then came the twist; for trying to interfere by speaking to a cop he knew, a new scenario is introduced, involving their son Walter (Sam Oz Stone) being made deaf and blind, permanently so, unless another tough moral choice and sacrifice, is made.
In general; I would have thought any self respecting school teacher and her NASA scientist husband, being intelligent and humane people, would not have let any financial pressure persuade them to have someone murdered for money, even for a million dollars.
The special effects were well produced, as one would expect in this day of digital design, but nothing spectacular. I do not think this film is a notch on Kelly’s Donnie Darko, although, to be fair to the actors, they all give credible performances, in particular, Frank Langella, as the creepy Arlington Steward, who creates a subtly crafted character.
I am a lover of science fiction, and horror, but my expectations are high. The main hurdle for any film, no matter its scenario, is it being believable; the circumstances, motivations and reactions of the protagonists, and support roles, must all seem natural and feasible, only then will the extraordinary, the supernatural, be accepted through the audience’s suspension of disbelief, only then will an audience experience the pleasure of total immersion in the story unfolding before them.
The Box is possibly a good enough film for the less critical viewer; a film for those who prefer mild suspense, rather than full throttle horror.
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION BY
ICON FILM DISTRIBUTORS
RELEASE DATE BLU-RAY AND DVD MARCH 10 2010
Directed by Richard Kelly
Produced by Richard Kelly
Dan Lin
Sean McKittrick
Based on short story by Richard Matheson
screenplay by Richard Kelly
Starring
Cameron Diaz
James Marsden
Frank Langella
Music by Win Butler
Régine Chassagne
Owen Pallett
Cinematography Steven Poster
Editing by Sam Bauer
Studio Radar Pictures
Media Rights Capital
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s) October 29, 2009 (2009-10-29)
(Australia)
November 6, 2009
Running time 119 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $25–30 million
Gross revenue $26,000,000
IMAGE CREDITS: Copyright presumed that of the production hoise, Warner Bros. and/or that of the distributors, all rights reserved, not for copying or re-distribution. image.net source of production shot.
FAIR USE RATIONALE: For illustration of product being reviewed, for review purposes only, low res. reproduction and not for copying.
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by Mountain Fog
indeed....
Sometimes a good short story is just that, and nothing more.
cheers
fog
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I was disappointed with the lack of focus in storytelling on this one....but what truly destroyed the film were the atrocious performances of Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.. From the inconsistent accents to the exaggerated reactions the film was never going to succeed with these two upfront.
What is it with Kelly and his terrible eye for casting?
Comment by Mountain Fog
actually old top, this has been my film blog some months now, Matt has control of the 20/20 Filmsight one!
Anyhoo, I was not so fussed with the leads' acting, than I was with the ludicrous premise the whole film was set upon.
cheers
fog
Comment by jkund17
techy.Bytes
Defendgreen
Web Stripe
Quirkus
Comment by Mountain Fog
cheers
fog