THE BOX (2009)

Donnie Darko is one of the most opinion-splitting films in recent years. For every person that thinks it's a modern classic, there is another that thinks it's a pile of pretentious drivel that disappeared up it's own backside. Whatever you think of the film, it did put Richard Kelly on the map and made him 'One to Watch' for the future. His follow up Southland Tales wasn't particularly well received, both critically and at the Box Office. Which brings us to his most recent effort - The Box.



Based on a short story, 'Button, Button' by the legendary Sci-fi/Horror writer Richard Matheson (who also penned I Am Legend, also brought to the screen in a number of different incarnations), which was also subsequently adapted into an episode of the Twilight Zone, it begins with a simple concept that seems as though it has the potential to run a lot deeper. 1976, Richmond, Virginia, suburban couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) receive a visit from Arlington Steward (the once again brilliant Frank Langella), a mysterious, facially disfigured man. He gives them a box, containing a button, and a choice. Press the button and they will receive $1m in cold hard cash in a brief case (as is always the way in the movies - no one writes a check or asks for bank details), but someone in the world, that they do not know will die. Or they can leave the button and go about their life normally with no change. It's a brilliant idea to base a film around as the couple wrestle with their conscious and decide what to do. In all honesty though the execution lacks - the writing is clunky and the acting is average at best, plus the financial situation of the couple never leaves any doubt as to what they will decide to do, so much of the tension is lost.

 Once the decision is made, the film becomes a very different beast. A Twilight Zone episode. A sub-plot about a Nasa research centre, Langella's mysterious 'Employees', a supposed after-life of some sort, it all just goes a bit mental.....not in a Dusk 'til Dawn, enjoyable kind of way though.

I had no idea what was happening for much of the second half of the film, and I'm not convinced I was meant to. I'm all for being mentally challenged at the cinema and being asked to form my own ideas on whats happening on screen, but this all felt as though Richard Kelly was trying to be a bit too clever. Having said that, I was never bored, I really was eagerly waiting for it all to unfold, but I wasn't fully emeresed, as though I was watching from afar, slightly removed.

Often with these 'ball of string' films, it's the end that is important as the plot unravels. The Box is interesting because it is both unsatisfying and satisfying at the same time. There is a resolution of sorts, and it's not the happy ending you might want, but much of the mystery is left unexplained and I couldn't help but feel annoyed - like being given complicated directions to a recommended pub, only to arrive and realise it's a Wetherspoons.

I saw the film a couple of days ago, I'm still playing it over in my mind, and now I don't think the majority of the film is actually important to Kelly. It's more about the decision made by the two leads and what that says about human beings. And when you look at the film on that basis it is very thought-provoking and interesting. But was it really necessary to bury that central idea in a messy extended episode of the X-Files?