The Box

Based on a short story by noted scifi writer Richard Matheson and taking place in the 70s, this is a story with suggested futuristic, time/space continuum and alien elements. This was also previously adapted into a Twlight Zone episode. The movie though is directed by the guy who wrote and directed Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly.

A couple, Norma and Arthur Lewis (Cameron Diaz, James Marsden) live a comfortable life but pretty much paycheck to paycheck. She is a teacher and suffers from a childhood accident and her foot is malformed. He works at the FBI's Langley research division where he has been using their new age materials to try to make an orthopedic foot to make his wife’s life more comfortable. Out of the blue one day a box is left for them, a curious contraption with a big push button. A mystery man, Mr. Steward (Frank Langella) tempts them to push the button for a million dollars, with the condition that someone they don’t know will die as a result. The couple struggle with the decision, which must be made in 24 hours. Their troubles and the knowledge that it will affect someone they don't know, convince them to push the button, or more correctly she pushes it, and they immediately have regrets.


As the film progresses we see what the implications are, which are a lot less anonymous than they had ever conceived. Friends and strangers are discovered to have connections. More is found out about who the mysterious Mr. Steward is even though he knows the Lewises' every step. This button cycle seems to have been playing out again and again for a very long time with supposedly the same results. Can the Lewises be the couple to finally break the cycle?

Like most science fiction movies the concepts and visuals often are not fully backed up by the ending. I think this film succeeds better than most though. There are many out-there ideas but this is a sci fi film so you have to suspend some disbelief and imagine these concepts as reality. I don’t want to say too much about the plot and events taking place as they are mysterious and makes you think and reconsider who is what and why. Is Mr. Steward a powerful human? A time traveler? An alien? Who has received the button before, who will receive it next? The visuals are really good, both in the sci fi concepts and the style of the movie (nice sets and locations denoting a futuristic look that was common in sci fi movies made in the 70s, the era this film takes place in).   The acting was good. The late scene where someone travels through a water entity was a leap of faith for both the character and us the viewer, so I guess in that way it worked. Just for a viewer like me who likes their sci fi explained, I wanted more.

The feel of the film is very much like Donnie Darko, with ominous tones of inescapable dread; one sacrifices oneself for others, even despite their knowledge. There are several levels of moral implication for the Lewises and others before them.  Keeping the time setting in the 70s was good, as if this were placed in a modern setting some of the scientific and alien aspects could be explained away more easily as well as the actions of the characters as in how they find out information.