Review: The Box

Set in 1976, husband and wife James Marsden and Cameron Diaz (who have a young son) find a peculiar box on their doorstep. It has a red button on it, and a message saying that someone will visit them by the end of the day. That someone turns out to be avuncular, but horrendously scarred Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), who tells them that they can become rich by pushing the red button. However, he tells them that by doing so, someone they don’t know will die. They cannot investigate Mr. Steward or his employer, nor can they tell anyone about this. At first, they dismiss this as a hoax or at least nonsense, the button doesn’t appear to be connected to anything, the box is entirely empty. Meanwhile, Diaz (a teacher) and Marsden (who works for NASA) both experience serious setbacks at work. Seemingly on a whim, and without consulting Marsden, Diaz pushes the button. And so their nightmare begins. Celia Weston plays Diaz’s mother, James Rebhorn plays Marsden’s superior at NASA, and Jennifer Rush plays a creepy mystery woman I can’t even begin to tell you about.

 

Well, the good news here is that the third film from director Richard Kelly is a vast improvement over his previous film, “Southland Tales”. But since “Southland Tales” is one of the worst films of the last decade, and this 2009 film from the writer/director is still well below his startling debut “Donnie Darko”, let’s not bring out the champagne and party whistles yet. It’s not a very good film at all. Based on a Richard Matheson (“The Incredible Shrinking Man”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “Cold Sweat”, “Twilight Zone: The Movie”) short story, one gets the feeling watching the film that the story ought not have been stretched to feature film length. Practically nothing of consequence happens for the film’s first hour as a result, and it’s unsurprising that they made a “Twilight Zone” episode out of the story. That’s where it belongs. Stretching things to feature length and drawing it all out (I hear the original story really only had one act) only makes one aware of how silly it all is. It’s a pretty stupid plot when you think about it, and sadly, you get a lot of time to think about it. I mean, what I don’t get is this: They can either press the button or not. They’re worried that pressing it will cause someone to die, but don’t believe that’s even possible given the button isn’t connected to anything anyway. So wouldn’t it be better to not push it? If it’s not real, then why even bother pressing it? Because there’d be no story, that’s why.

 

And that’s the problem. Although I’ve read much to the contrary on IMDb message boards, I just didn’t see the sense in pushing the button, and didn’t believe anyone would. The monetary value is far outweighed by the negatives as far as I can tell, that’s if you believe that the button even works. So when they did push it, I felt it was merely because there’d be no movie without doing so. That’s not enough to interest me, I’m afraid, but those who might consider such a thing may be intrigued by the film. However, even then I honestly don’t believe that this particular couple would have pushed the button, knowing what we know about them. They are otherwise a nice, likeable couple- the best thing the film has going for it- and cash-strapped or not, I just didn’t believe they were the type to do it. The fact that Diaz really only does it on a whim pretty much confirms that Kelly even knows there isn’t enough reason for them to do it. If he wanted us to accept the idea, we needed more scenes with the couple financially struggling. As is, they only seemed at worst to be at the beginning of some hard financial times, not nearly enough to start considering being accessories to murder (Or would pushing the button make them murderers?). I mean, Marsden might not be accepted for astronaut training, but he still works for NASA, right? That’s gotta be some decent pay, surely.

 

Some will be glad that this is a less dense plot than Kelly’s previous films (I was able to follow “Donnie Darko” well enough on first viewing, but “Southland Tales” is impenetrable and just plain terrible), but I was rather disappointed with the story, which seems more like mediocre M. Night Shyamalan material (“Lady in the Water”, for instance) than someone who gave us the mind-bending “Donnie Darko”. At first you keep on watching because (although one twist is obvious from the get-go), you’ll have no idea where the fuck it’s all really going or what the purpose for it all is. However, once it starts to get there, you’ll wish it didn’t bother. It boils down to a morality film, something in between “Needful Things” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (but as directed by David Lynch or David Cronenberg, say, or maybe even Roman Polanski on a bad day). I’m fine with classic sci-fi and morality tales individually, but the combo of both here is underwhelming. Having these characters basically teaching people a lesson in morality seems awfully small for who and what the characters in question are. You keep expecting a grander scheme to be unveiled, but it never arrives. Nope, this really is all they have, and you’ll be rolling your eyes. These characters could’ve made for a much more interesting and thought-provoking film than what is really a stock-standard story about morals, ethics, actions, and consequences. Yes, it worked in “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, but that was an exception.

 

The performances are a mixed bag, with Frank Langella and whatever the fuck is wrong with his face standing out. He’s immediately unsettling, but with just a hint of Sidney Blackmer-esque avuncular quality to him. In fact, there’s a touch of Polanski to the film as a whole, actually. I’m not normally a James Marsden fan, but he’s likeable here and relatively convincing, he has a bit of a JFK/RFK look to him that suggests the 50s more than the mid-70s, but nonetheless he’s fine. Less convincing is Cameron Diaz, who attempts a Southern accent. Someone should’ve put a stop to it, accents aren’t her thing, and unfortunately it’s Diaz herself who seems to put a stop to it about 80% of the time. Whoops. She looks a lot less weathered and haggard here than she has in other films of the last five years or so, but is nonetheless not very convincing in the role. In a smaller role, James Rebhorn working for NASA immediately makes one question the validity of the moon landing. That guy’s not trustworthy in anything. Celia Weston is also impressive in a few scenes as Diaz’s mother.

 

One of the film’s best assets is the excellent cinematography by Steven Poster (“Blood Beach”, “The Boy Who Could Fly”), with particularly unsettling, Kubrick-esque shot composition. A major debit comes in the form of the horrendously overstated music score by (amazingly) three composers; Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, and Owen Pallett (otherwise known as something called Arcade Fire. I’m old, OK?) It’s the worst, most irritating Bernard Herrmann imitation you’ve ever heard and helps drag the film down further.

 

It’s not a boring film, just pretentious and ultimately disappointing. It’s a well-shot and interesting failure, but a failure nonetheless. You’ll keep watching, but you won’t come away from it satisfied in the least. 

 

Rating: C