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The Box

Buzz says:   MPAA Rating: PG-13
Current Showtimes:

Carmike Beverly Cinema 18

• 4:40pm
• 10:00

You’re presented with a million dollars, completely un-taxable, no questions asked. But, naturally, there’s a catch. In order to obtain this million, you must push a button; a little red button in a little box that will take the life of someone somewhere in the world; someone you don’t even know. So what do you do? Do you take the money?

This is the question faced by Arthur and Norma Lewis (James Marsden and Cameron Diaz), when a mysterious and disfigured stranger by the name of Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) presents them with a box, very simple, yet very specific instructions, and 24 hours to ponder. While the thought of being responsible for taking the life of another human being is initially repulsive to both Arthur and Norma, their aversion soon begins to waver when Arthur is suddenly dropped from astronaut training at NASA and Norma learns her faculty status will no longer help fund her son’s tuition. So what happens? Norma pushes the button; and in doing so, she ignites a hailstorm chain of events that include nosebleeds, amputated toes, murders, creepy waiters, signals from Mars, water coffins, and a whole lot of other stuff I’m not really sure I can explain, to be quite honest.

This sci-fi thriller, appropriately titled The Box, and based on the short story “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, bears the promise of being fairly straightforward, at least for the first hour or so; then it turns into a tumultuous string of scenes and events that ask about 100 questions, and answers one, if that. Yet, while you won’t be able to help but ask yourself “What the hell just happened?” once for every dollar offered to the Lewis family, it’s hard not to marvel at writer/director Robert Kelly’s eerily poetic approach. This film is, without a doubt, as equally intriguing as it is strange and disturbing; and if you’ve seen Kelly’s 2001 film Donnie Darko, that won’t come as a surprise whatsoever. It’s hard to tear yourself away from the screen, and regardless of how highly preposterous this film ends up becoming, you can’t help but wonder what comes next. We’re propelled through this film at various speeds, plowing through uneven and highly confusing terrain. While at times it can be frustrating, surprisingly we’re left oddly satisfied. The film ends up being a puzzle reminiscent of the tale of Adam and Eve that sheds light on the questions of existentialism, God’s relationship to humanity, and, oddly, alien interactions. So yes, it’s weird and enticing, frustrating and intriguing, and so many other things I can hardly begin to describe without giving away the plot in its entirety. But what I can say is that it’s worth the experience. In the end, there’s a lesson to be learned from all of this; and that, kids, is to never ever push the button.