The Box 022310

Cameron Diaz and James Matheson are a married couple with an eleven year-old son. Matheson is a NASA scientist who just found out that his request to be an astronaut has been denied. Diaz is a school teacher who just found out she’s getting a pay cut. The same day, Frank Langella arrives and gives them a box with a button. He tells them that if they press it someone, somewhere that they don’t know will die and they’ll be given a million dollars for pushing the button. They decide that the whole thing is a joke and press the button, but when they’re given the million dollars they become paranoid and guilt ridden. Now they try and figure out who this man is and what they did.

This is the third film by Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame and I was really looking forward to it. His films, while very strange, are extremely atmospheric and you find tension building for no reason immediately after the film starts. The idea of him making a thriller is still very appealing but this wasn’t one. That’s not to say that it wasn’t good. All of Kelly’s films are strange because he uses them to explore philosophy and religion, and he does the same thing here. The parallel to original sin was very intriguing (Diaz presses the button but Matheson did nothing to stop her). The couple’s attempt to discover what was going on are incredibly tense because they stumble onto something that appears to be part zombie cult and part invasion of the body snatchers, making it very creepy.

Like Kelly’s second film, Southland Tales, the weak point is the ending. Part of Donnie Darko’s brilliance was the movie makes absolutely no sense at all. For the entire movie you are completely lost until the very end. In the last three minutes of the movie one plot twist arrives that makes the entire movie make sense. This didn’t do something that drastic, but the ending lacked a definite conclusion. The main plotline was wrapped up but there were at least three or four minor plots that were left hanging. Plus the scenes following the ending seemed to set up a sequel and you want one because one sub plot seemed to involve the coming end of the world I’d like that to be explained a little more.

The Box is good, but it gets too caught up in its own complexity. Fans of Kelly and the strange will enjoy but it’s certainly not for everyone. C - .