February 25, 2010

Push a button and get a million dollars tax-free. There’s got to be a catch right? Oh yeah, somebody you don’t know dies as a result. Can you live with that knowledge? That is the question posed by the new movie, The Box, directed by Richard Kelly and starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. Based on a short story by Richard Matheson that was first published in Playboy in 1970, the concept was initially conceived after Matheson learned of similar thought-provoking moral and ethical questions being asked in college psych classes.

Kelly comes to the project with his own legacy of quirky underground cult favorites and there is no denying the impressive cast assembled in an attempt to turn a few pages into a feature film, but in the end, there just wasn’t enough thread to weave something larger. Characters had to be redesigned, situations added, and the whole central question the movie revolves around is clouded by some weird sci-fi elements.

The story is setup within moments as a disfigured stranger (Frank Langella) leaves a mysterious package on the doorstep of Norma and Arthur Lewis (Diaz and Marsden) with a note saying he will return at 5pm. That gives us one day to learn that Norma is a schoolteacher and Arthur is a NASA engineer looking to get accepted into the astronaut program. Kelly interjects some personal elements to flesh out the thin storyline such as the real-life event of his father (who actually worked at NASA creating an artificial foot for his handicapped mother.

As promised, the stranger, Arlington Steward, returns at five to setup the dilemma giving the couple 24 hours to push the button or return the box. There are a handful of rules that go along with the offer, none worth mentioning here. After an appropriate amount of awkward silence and rationalization with the couple sitting around the kitchen table, Norma pushes the button and the next day a briefcase with a million dollars is swapped for the box and Arlington promises that the next people he makes this offer to will be someone “they don’t know”. The realization and guilt of what they just did sink in almost immediately and Arthur tries to return the cash but Arlington drives off leaving the new millionaires to question their future.

Naturally, Arthur starts to break those “rules” by doing a background check on the stranger. His plates are registered to the NSA, which is just about the time the story starts to lose its focus. There are revelations about Steward being hit by lightning (thus the face), and hints he may even be an alien. We see his crazy underground lair with piles of money and numerous boxes waiting to be delivered to the unsuspecting public. We never really learn the true motives or the ultimate end game of all these tests, which appear to continue even after the final credits and will continue until people stop pressing the button. But we all know human nature makes that unlikely.

Filmmaking: 5
Going into this movie I was expecting something supernatural along the lines of Hellraiser, but I ended up getting an extended episode of the Twilight Zone. Some of the acting was excellent, especially Diaz who totally immersed herself in the role with a physical limp and an authentic accent. Langella emotionless portrayal of the stranger indeed, made him feel quite alien-like, as an interplanetary scientist with the entire world as his laboratory. But with ultimate fates like death and heaven and hell coming into play, mixing aliens and religion will certainly press a few buttons with viewers.

Visuals: 7
Technically, the 1080p/VC-1 transfer for The Box is quite good but there are some CG elements that don’t always work. Consider the disfigured stranger that required every shot with Langella to be filmed with a clean background plate then have his face motion-capped and large portions of flesh removed frame by frame. Then there is the obvious CG employed to convert a modern city into something more 70’s, and finally we have the signature water coffin moment that looked no better than the alien from the Abyss or last week’s episode of Stargate. Detail ranged in quality from scene to scene but the contrast as sharp and black levels deep and there was no DNR or any other visual imperfections. The overall tone of the picture is as dark and moody as the story being told.

Sound: 6
I found the DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix to be rather underwhelming with a poor mix of score, effects, and voice track that often made it hard to hear the dialogue. While the score is quite good and the effects are adequate, the mix was spotty, with seemingly random use of the surround channels and virtually no LFE.

Value: 5
The Box offers a minimal amount of extended content, not a lot but just about what I would expect from this minimally hyped release. There is an informative commentary from Richard Kelly that covers all the relative parts of production and filming. Often, his insights are more interesting than the film. “The Box: Grounded in Reality” is an 11-minute feature that compares moments in the film to Kelly’s real life as well as the challenges of converting a short story into a feature film.

“Richard Matheson – In His Own Words” is a revealing 5-minute interview with the author of the original short story who discusses this and other works. He comes off as remarkably humble for an author who garners so much respect. “Visual Effects Revealed” is a 4-minute look into all the various CG elements used to create Arlington’s face, the 70’s city makeover, and the water coffins. Then there are three short films dubbed as “Music Video Prequels” that somehow relate to the film, and finally, a digital copy of the film that actually has a better sound mix on my iPhone than my home theater.

Overall: 5.7
While I never read the original, I’m almost certain The Box is far better as a short story or even inspiration for a 30-minute Twilight Zone. The film loses focus several times throughout the story, and there are so many random tangents that never pay off I came away confused and unsatisfied. Even the power of Blu-ray isn’t enough to save this film with a mere average visual experience and a disappointing audio mix that will have you toggling the captions at the first noisy scene. The Box is a rental or bargain bin purchase at best, and sadly, completely forgettable in the company of other movies releasing this month.