While there are some imaginative effects and spooky moments (as well as a few hackneyed sci-fi touches) the whole thing gets pretty silly at times, and the mystery is never fully resolved.
Comment
11/05/09
The Box (2009)
47
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:90
Fresh:42
Rotten:48
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Imaginative but often preposterous, The Box features some thrills but largely feels too piecemeal.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:04-12-2009
Synopsis: What if someone gave you a box containing a button that, if pushed, would bring you a million dollars…but simultaneously take the life of someone you don’t know? Would you do it? And what would... [More]
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn
Director: Richard Kelly
Reviews for The Box
all at once an engrossing genre piece, an exceptional exercise in expansive adaptation, and a complex moral allegory, so that this is a Box that requires a lot of unpacking - which of course makes it the gift that keeps on giving...
11/23/09
Outlandish embellishments serve as annoying distractions to a perfectly good premise in this disappointing thriller.
11/18/09
A box full of boredom.
11/18/09
Kelly, king of dumbed-down nihilism, takes a short Twilight Zone TV episode, “Button, Button,” and extends it unendurably...
11/18/09
The choice is yours, but I suggest you push that button for your ticket and see The Box in theaters.
11/17/09
A cool, philosophical mindfreak.
11/16/09
This hokum might have been entertaining if Kelly could have somehow made this "Twilight Zone" material more credible.
11/16/09
The first half is a brilliantly realized exercise in sustained tension; the suspense fades as the story becomes increasingly bizarre...
11/13/09
A Richard Matheson story is a good place to start, but boy did this screenplay lose direction. By the third act, a good story becomes totally laughable, including nose-bleeding zombies. Paul Chambers, CNN.
11/13/09
One of those thrillers that, looking back on it, has some plot ribbons with frayed, fuzzy ends. Just not quite sharp-edged enough to open doors to images and fears in your head you never knew were there, but now want desperately to lock up.
11/13/09
Both its imagination and its ambition sprint far beyond anything offered in the creatively neutered likes of Disney's A Christmas Carol or Law Abiding Citizen.
11/13/09
Whatever you do, do not accept delivery of The Box, a package that doesn't know where it is going nor how to get there.
11/12/09
First-semester social-science students would wince at the overreaching metaphors in Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly’s latest Rorschach test.
11/12/09
Riffing on a Twilight Zone-themed morality tale, writer/director Richard Kelly ("Donnie Darko") sets the table for a three-course meal of supernatural events but serves up an anemic narrative entree instead.
11/11/09
Kelly has talent, but for his next movie, he might try coming down to earth and forgetting about the people who control the lightning.
11/11/09
Impales itself on the smug awareness of how stuffed full of extraordinarily twisty ideas it is, without bothering to make sure that those ideas add up to anything halfway worthwhile.
11/10/09
As fresh and imaginative as a well made "Twilight Zone" episode.
11/10/09
[T]he ambition of the movie makes it sort of intriguing, too, even if it fails -- spectacularly -- in the end...
11/09/09
Not without interest, The Box opens to a collection of scenes that work and scenes that don't.
11/09/09
Latest News for The Box
November 05, 2009:
Critics Consensus: A Christmas Carol Dazzles But Disappoints
This week at the movies, we've got some modern-day Dickens (Disney's A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman); a button-pushing thriller (The Box, starring... More...
November 03, 2009:
Richard Kelly Talks The Box 
It's been a long and somewhat bumpy ride getting "The Box" to theaters, but director Richard Kelly is finally on the verge of releasing his latest film. He talks about the... More...
October 29, 2009:
Richard Kelly chats about The Box
Richard Kelly's no stranger to the mysterious whims of fate. His first feature, Donnie Darko, flopped upon initial release, only to live on as one of the decade's most beloved... More...
September 28, 2009:
New: Brand New Movie Trailer/Poster
More...
More Movies
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 81% | Departures | 04/12 |
| 79% | Disgrace | 04/12 |
| 79% | Me and Orson Welles | 04/12 |
| 66% | The Merry Gentleman | 04/12 |
| 61% | The Girlfriend Experience | 04/12 |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds