movie review of 'the box'

The Box is one of the most suspenseful, sometimes creepy, movies I have seen in a while. Although this movie got bad reviews by most critics, I am with the ones who liked it. Despite some plot flaws and a somewhat weak ending, it kept me intrigued and tense throughout.

SPOILER ALERT
The movie stars Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz, There's Something About Mary) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden, X-Men) as a 1970s couple (with all the orange, brown and glorious wallpaper of the era). Diaz plays a school teacher with a Southern drawl and a disfigured right foot with only one toe. She finds out that teachers have just lost 'tuition assistance'. Marsden is a NASA worker who worked on the Mars project and loses his job.

Cue in the mysterious and ominous Arlington Steward (Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon) - a man with half his face missing. He appears one day at the Lewis residence with a strange proposition: Here is a box with a button built into it. If you press it you will receive $1,000,000. The catch is someone in the world will die because of it. You have 24 hours to come to a decision.

The financially strapped Lewis's battle over the morality of the decision but ultimately give in a press the button (there would not be much of a movie if they did not). Strange events start to unfold - nosebleeds, spying strangers, laughing lunatics, missing persons.

Mr. Steward appears to be of a higher power than humans - is he the devil? is he alien? What is the purpose of this experiment he seems to be conducting? There are many questions presented on the film journey, some of which are left unanswered.

This film is not for everyone. But if you like watered down (you can actually follow along) David Lynch strangeness, conspiracy theories, suspense and the 1970s, give this film a try.