Creepier than 1976 fashion
If you’re not familiar with the storyline, it starts out with a struggling young family that has received doubly bad financial news that could shake the very foundation that they built. Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lews (James Marsden) each receive bad news the same day. Norma is not retained in her teaching position, while Arthur has been rejected by NASA as an astronaut. Down and out and feeling the pressure of struggling in a bad economy, Norma receives a mysterious box at her front door one morning. The box contains a single button. Soon after the delivery, she is visited by a mysterious man with half of his face missing (Frank Langella). He offers Norma one million dollars if she presses the button. By pressing the button she will have killed one person, who she doesn’t know, somewhere in the world. She has a limited time to make the decision. Norma can’t speak to anyone but her husband about the proposal. So the Lewis’ must decide on what they will do before their time is up.
I’ll hold back the rest so you can see it.
I saw the trailer when this first came out and I really wanted to see this movie. The set-up is beautiful, as a viewer you understand the dilemma the couple is in (unless you’re filthy rich). Director Richard Kelly makes the decision difficult and well thought out by Lewis’. He drags the decision making process out in the film, which only heightens the suspension and the tension an audience member would feel watching this film. You will fully get the entire emotional roller coaster that the couple is experiencing with the decision to make their life better by ending someone else’s. This portion of the film is very powerful and it’s done so damn well. I could watch this portion of the film over and over again and still feel the same way about it.
Turn away now if you don’t want to read the rest of this rant because it’s going to get specific.
(SPOILER BEGIN)
The problem after they decide to push the button is that the wheels simply fall off of the concept. When you find out that Frank Langella’s character, Arlington, was suppose to be dead thanks to a lightening strike to the face it gets more intriguing, but the moment you find out that he’s working for a ‘mysterious force’ in the universe then it gets too ‘out there’. For a force that controls Arlington and that is doing what basically turns out to be a giant experiment on mankind, shouldn’t we meet them? It’s like part Sophie’s Choice (not as powerful, not the exact situation, but the same type of decision making) and part Matrix (believe me, it pains me including that in with anything). There’s a complicated choice that leads to a complete, ultimate disaster in the world.
One of the great mistakes that writers/directors make is not containing their created world in a restricted area. This is a perfect example how a well-contained story gets out of hand quickly. For example, you understand the decision making of the couple and you certainly understand the unhappiness that it brings, but the explanation of how/why makes this self-contained world explode into story pieces that are just too big to explain in a short amount of time. I’m assuming the experimenters were aliens, as they have some sort of method to control others minds (that’s how they keep tabs on the Lewis’).
(SPOILER END)
Anyway, I really love how the setup begins, but feel like the wheels come off when the explanation of how/why begin to unravel.
As for the blu-ray portion of this film, I’m so happy that Warner Home Video has made all of their new releases Blu-ray/DVD combo. I know that Disney was the first to go this route and I think that it couldn’t have been a better decision.
With that said, this is another Warner Home Video top-notch Blu-ray release. The visuals are perfect for HD and the regretful 70’s fashion comes out crystal clear on a 1080p screen. As of recently we’ve seen a lot of films transferred to Blu-ray with artifacts and graininess, but I really enjoyed The Box visually. it was appealing to the eyes and colors like red, grey and blue really stood out in the film. Regretfully the effects for Arlington’s injury and Diaz’s injury stood out as well; gross, but cool in Blu-ray.
Added to this visual candy is the gorgeous composition from Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and Owen Pallett. It’s haunting, appropriate and sounds great in DTS-HD 5.1. Simply put, the music will carry the film well and the visuals will be your icing on the cake.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Commentary by Richard Kelly
– The Box: Grounded in Reality
– Music Video Prequels
– Visual Effects Revealed
– Richard Matheson: In His Own Words
– Digital Copy
– DVD
You’ve got some goods packed into this that make the film better, but not great. The commentary from Richard Kelly provides some interesting insight into what they wanted to do and what they intended. The rest of the features are damn good, especially the Richard Matheson piece. Do I wish there were more? Of course, but that’s just me as a film junky wanting as much as I can get. Overall, I think you’ve got some good reasons to watch the features.