"The Box"

Title: "The Box"

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Richard Kelly
Producers: R. Kelly, D. Lin, and Sean McKittrick
Editing: Sam Bauer
Composers: W. Butler, R. Chassagne, and O. Pallett
Starring:
- Cameron Diaz as Norma Lewis
- James Marsden as Arthur Lewis
- Frank Langella as Arlington Steward
- Gillian Jacobs as Dana/Sarah Matthews
- Deborah Rush as Clymene Steward
- James Rebhorn as Norm Cahill

Plot and Critical Review: In 1976, Norma and Arthur Lewis, a financially strapped couple, awake to find a package on the doorstep. Inside the package is a locked wooden box with a button and a note that reads: "Mr. Steward will call upon you at 5:00 pm." Promptly at five, Steward, a middle aged, facially disfigured man, arrives. He tells Norma that if the button is pushed he will give her one million dollars, but someone in the world whom she does not know will die. After much deliberation Norma pushes the button on an impulse. Meanwhile, many miles away, the police are called to investigate a report of shots being fired, only to discover that the man who lived in the house, Jeffrey, has killed his wife and fled, leaving his daughter locked in the bathroom. Steward returns to give Norma and Arthur the money, informing them that they will not know the person who next receives the offer.

At Norma's sister's wedding rehearsal dinner Arthur wins a chance to select a present from a pool provided by the guests. He sees a plain brown box that looks exactly like Steward's box. He opens it to find a photo of Steward before his disfigurement. Arthur asks Norma's father, a police officer, to run the license plate number of Steward's car.

After returning home, Arthur drives the babysitter to her house. She acts strangely, telling Arthur to "look into the light" to solve his problems. Her nose begins to bleed, and she passes out. Later, at a supermarket, Norma is approached by a woman who tells her to look up a certain. Separately, Norma and Arthur visit the library. Arthur approaches a woman he learns is Steward's wife, and she leads Arthur to a room that has three coffins made of hovering water. Two lead to eternal damnation, while the other leads to salvation. Arthur enters one of the gateways. Norma is led by two women to Steward, who informs Norma that he was struck by lightning and can now communicate with "those who control the lightning". Steward asks Norma what she thought the first time she saw him. Norma explains that she felt love for him because of her own foot disfigurement. Stewards looks mildly surprised and asks her to grab his hand. She does and wakes up, finding herself back at home in her bed. Above her, Arthur hovers within a rectangular water module that suddenly bursts.

Back at the NSA, the NSA Chief and Arthur's boss from NASA are discussing Steward. They say he was struck by lightning and died shortly after; but, hours later in the morgue, a nurse heard Steward laughing. He was transferred to a military hospital where his body seemed to regenerate faster than normal, with cellular degeneration halting.

At the wedding reception of Norma's sister, Arthur is forced to leave the reception at gunpoint by the wife-killer Jeffrey, who is, in fact, a former NASA employee. Shortly after, Norma and their son Walter are kidnapped. Jeffrey he reveals to Arthur that he had been forced to choose between his wife and his daughter. He also shows Arthur the Human Resource Exploitation Manual seen in the pictures earlier, which contains, among other things, a diagram of the three water portals. Meanwhile, NSA employees are seen rounding up large groups of people, including Walter, and leading them into enormous portals of water similar to the ones at the library. Steward is overseeing the process; by his side are several boxes, identical to the one he had given Norma. Through a discussion with one of his subordinates, the boxes are revealed to be part of an experiment, conducted by "those who control the lightning" to learn whether the majority of the human race is capable of putting other peoples' lives before personal gain. If the results of the test show that the majority of subjects push the button, the human race will be exterminated. Steward also reveals that all the test subjects are couples under 40 years of age with one child.

Arthur and Norma return home and find Steward, who offers them a final choice. Their son Walter is now deaf and blind, as a result of being taken underwater at a motel swimming pool, and locked in the upstairs bathroom. They can either live on with their million dollars and their disabled son, or Arthur can shoot Norma through the heart, at which point Walter's sight and hearing will be restored and the money will be placed in an interest-bearing bank account for Walter, to be given to him on his 18th birthday. The couple runs to the upstairs bathroom where they can hear their son struggling and calling for them, but he cannot hear them calling back to him. Norma refuses to see her son suffer, and begs Arthur to shoot her. Arthur agrees, and, as he shoots his wife, another couple far away pushes the button on their box. The police arrive and arrest Arthur, while Walter regains consciousness and calls out. As Arthur is taken from his home, Steward leaves the other couple's house. NSA agents and Arthur's boss arrive at Arthur's house. Arthur's boss assures Arthur that his son Walter will receive good care. Arthur is taken away and Walter is shown through an upstairs window in the home with his grandfather standing behind him.

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Unfortunately there's nothing out of the ordinary or especially interesting here. I won't say I dislike the film, but I won't say that i'm going to recommend it to you. In the end I was left with the sense that there could have been much more development in the A-Plot instead of all the wanderings in weak B and C-Plot lines. Did we really have to go through all of those nosebleeds?

What is special about this movie is the curtain of mystery that's drawn around Steward, his wife, and those Steward controls. Even at the end of the movie we're not sure what they're really about and if their initiative is for good or ill. Was Steward in the service (here we see the irony in his name, of course) of aliens or the divine? "Those who control the lighting" says so much and so little. It's that sense of lingering suspense that almost always satisfies.

My Rating: 5/10

Content To Caution:

V-2 - Some fist fights and scuffles...but why so many nosebleeds?!

L-1.5 - No comment.

DU-2 - Drinking and smoking throughout.

RT-.5 - No comment.

H/S-3 - Supernatural and psychological suspense throughout.

CH-2 - Some adult humor.

S/N-1.5 - No comment.

The "Reel Revelation": "Truth: The Game Changer"

"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (John 8:31b-32).

Jesus says it so simply and with such clarity; "the truth will make us free". Simple as it is, do we openly receive this sentiment? It is almost too good to be true. Almost. But it is true; truth is a game changer. In coming to know the truth (and especially the truth of God revealed in Christ) we learn who we are, whose we are, and what God has purposed for us during this life. We discover more about ourselves and of God than we ever could have by our own devices. Whatever life we were living before will be altogether changed when we encounter the truth of God's love. It changes us. Not only does it "make (or set) us free", it shows us the way into deeper knowledge of God and righteous wisdom. We find discover deeper and more profound truths as our relationship with Jesus, who called Himself "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). But no matter the depths to which we go in seeking out God's truth, the truth has one consistent attribute; it "makes us free."

Recall what Mr. Steward said in "The Box", that he "came into contact with those who control the lightning." That single line - as truthful a line as he'd spoken the entire movie, albeit somewhat enigmatic - shook up the entire film! Up until that point we didn't know much about Mr. Steward aside from fragmented (and not altogether trustworthy) facts about his past in the military. But he finally offers us a genuine insight (the truth) and it rocked the whole plot of the film. The characters finally came to know him for who he was - for what he was! - and responded to him differently as a result. Isn't this how God's truth affects us?

When Jesus says "You are...", His words reach out and seek to change the perception we hold of ourselves. When Jesus says "You will...", His words challenge us to a certain behaviors that might be foreign to us, but will ultimately fulfill His will for our lives. When Jesus says "I am...", He is expressing an aspect of His character that He wants us to understand. When you love someone you want to come to know them in a deep and profound way. You want to understand the truth of their life. Do you desire to know Jesus in the same way?

Jesus' words are game changing for our lives! They move us in new directions and call us to a new way of life. Every day they summon us to be more than what we are or what we think we can be; they call us to be like Our Lord in every way. Are you willing to allow God's Truth to be "game changing" in your life during this Lenten season? Are you prepared to listen to Him and, having discovered the Truth of God in Christ, follow His words? This is the cost of discipleship. The reward is finding the truth, knowing it, and living a life "set free" in God's grace and love.

See you tomorrow - E.T.