Review of The Box (2009) by Chris H — 16 Apr 2011

I much prefer this to Kelly')s impenetrable Southland Tales, but it's still not anywhere the genius we still hope will resurface from him that he showed with Donnie Darko. As least we got a good film this time around though, as I did enjoy this.

There are hints of both of his previous films here. Loved the musing on Arthur C. Clarke's sufficiently advanced science would appear indistinguishable from magic line. It seems to me that Kelly is very well versed in science fiction literature, with his 'Flow, My Tears the Policeman Said' nod in Southland Tales, his Clarke mention here and this film being based on a Richard Matheson story.

We had a neat idea with these advanced aliens or beings testing us all. It was clear that the person killed who you don't you would simply be the previous person who pressed the box. I loved the 60s setting, and it was good to have Jacobs here! Marsden was good I thought.

With a bit of tweaking, this could have been something rather great. It just needed to be a tad bit more engaging. A step in the right direction for Kelly, let's hope his next film is even better and closer to the genius of his debut.