The Box Movie Review

What if one day, you find a mysterious box sitting on your porch with a red button in it that could give you a million dollars but whilst killing someone you don’t know would you push it? It was that one ordinary day when private high school teacher Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) and NASA engineer husband Arthur (James Marsden), were faced with that exact dilemma. After finding a mysterious box in their front porch, they receive an unexpected visit from the device’s manufacturer, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), a horribly disfigured man with half his face missing. He informs them that by pushing the button, they would kill someone on the other side of world they do not know. However, by doing so, they instantly earn a million dollars. Given only 24 hours to decide and a high need to support their family, Norma makes the toughest decision by taking on the gamble. As she presses the button, she soon learns that more terrifying consequences have been set in motion.

While watching TV, American writer-director Richard Kelly stumbles upon the tale’s premise derived from Richard Matheson’s 1970 short story Button, Button. Inspired to create a screenplay for the big screen, he adapts the story creating a weirder and wilder version of the teleplay and the original text to create “The Box”.

Bringing life and thrill to Kelly’s multiple plotlines are production designers Alexander Hammond and Steven Poster with an authentic feel for the shooting styles of the 1970s using the monotone look. Completing the production are 70’s gadgets and a retro score from Arcade Fire. The film would take viewers to a time travel back to the 1970’s. Kelly’s screenplay builds a haunting air of emotional conflict and negotiation of morals as he carefully unravels the lives of the lead roles. His best talent was making normal events out-of-the-ordinary by adding absurd and paranoid elements.

However despite his amazing talent to extract thrill, his plot possess holes that are difficult to fill in. Also as the film reaches its midway mark, the quality plummets alarmingly caused by the peculiar logic of the tale and a boring big reveal towards the end.