I had been looking forward to this movie for some time. There was something deeply disturbing about it that I couldnt quite put my finger on. I felt as if there was some type of twisted message being conveyed. It was interesting, but not in a good way. I found it disturbing, and filled with vengelust (which is a word Ive made up to explain a person or theme that is obsessed with vengeance, without chance of mercy or forgiveness).
Cameron Diaz’s character, who we learn is an extremely compassionate and beautiful person, even asks “Is there no chance of forgiveness?”. According to this story, there isn’t. The only chance of dealing with negative consequences is to make more bad choices which in turn will promise more negative consequences which perpetuates itself indefinitely.
The Box was well acted, clever and certainly stimulates thought, though does so at the expense of morality and a sense of hope / prevailing good. This feels to me what I found disturbing, it (the story) was willing to say “look at how clever I am” without redemption of the protagonists (as well as humanity). It seemed “being clever” was its main goal, and that in and of itself is not enough for a good story.
You will not have the warm fuzzies after watching this. I felt almost sick, though not quite to the degree of “7 Pounds”. I say skip it.
I wish I would have read your review before going to see this yesterday. It wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. Although the plot was certainly different, I found myself leaving the theater with a bad feeling. I agree with you suggestion to skip it…I certainly wish I had.
This movie comes from a 10-15 minute episode of the twilight zone or amazing stories years ago. I actually posed this question to my kids about a year or 2 ago to see how they would respond and then told of this story I saw on tv. When Kjersti saw the preview she came running to me telling me how they made a movie about what I had told them. So I think the overall message must be pretty intense. It stuck in her mind pretty good. Not surprised that it left a disturbing impression.
I think everyone should see this movie. Diaz’s character was an absolute contradiction. I realized my hand was shaking halfway through the movie. To realize the consequences our actions have is a weighty thing. You’re right it is not a warm fuzzy movie. But the value in realizing there are things in this life that you can not place a dollar amount on is important. Even though I had not made her decision I left feeling the weight of the consequences. I am glad I saw this. I wouldn’t want to watch in twice it’s that heavy… However one of the deepest conversations I have had in a while came when discussing the many layers of this movie.