The Box - You are the experiment

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Movie
German title The Box - You are the experiment
Original title The Box
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2009
length 115 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Richard Kelly
script Richard Matheson
(short story)
Richard Kelly
(screenplay)
production Richard Kelly
Dan Lin
Sean McKittrick
music Win Butler
Régine Chassagne
Owen Pallett
camera Steven B. Poster
cut Sam Bauer
occupation

The Box - You are the experiment (AKA The Box ) is an American science fiction - Thriller of 2009, based on the short story Button, Button by Richard Matheson from the year 1970. The director is Richard Kelly , the film stars Cameron Diaz , James Marsden and Frank Langella . The film was released on DVD in Germany on February 18, 2010 .

action

The action takes place in the 1970s. One morning, a package stands in front of the Lewis family's house, in which there is a mysterious wooden box with a red button. In the afternoon, Mother Norma receives a visit from the mysterious and disfigured Arlington Steward, who explains how the box works. The strange man offers Norma and Arthur a million dollars in cash if they press the button in the next 24 hours. However, by pushing the button somewhere on the planet a person will die whom Norma and Arthur do not know. The family suddenly finds itself in financial misery: Father Arthur, who works for NASA , is surprisingly refused admission to the astronaut program, while mother Norma learns that her son Walter's school wants to remove the reduced fees. Norma cannot resist the temptation and presses the button shortly before the deadline. Arlington Steward appears again on the doorstep and hands the family the suitcase with the one million dollars in cash. He takes the box back and explains that if another family is reprogrammed, another immoral offer will be made.

On the basis of an equivocal remark by the ominous stranger, Norma and Arthur believe that they will be the ones to die next. It turns out that Arlington Steward is an ex-NASA employee who was struck by lightning and actually killed years ago. As a result of this lightning strike, higher powers entered the body of the scientist, who now confronts various people with an immoral choice on their behalf. Through this process, these higher powers want to find out whether human civilization is worth keeping alive. Should enough people be found to resist the temptation, humanity has a future.

Arlington Steward employees kidnap Norma and Arthur's son Walter, rendering him blind and deaf. Arlington then paid another visit to the Lewis family and presented the couple again with a choice. Either Arthur shoots his wife Norma or their son Walter will remain blind and deaf forever. Since she wants to spare her son this suffering, Norma persuades her husband to shoot her. The moment Arthur pulls the trigger on the gun, another couple can be seen pressing the button on the wooden box, whereupon Walter is freed from his handicaps.

Arthur is arrested by the police, but shortly thereafter handed over to men dressed in black, who have the handcuffs removed from him. He is led to a black limousine, where he is told that everything necessary will be done for him and his son. Walter watches from the window as the limousine drives away with Arthur. The final scene shows the Arlington steward standing on a street in the residential area with the box in his hands.

Film music

Reviews

The film received a very divided response from critics. In the film reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is The Box on a score of 45%, composed of 59 positive and 73 negative reviews. The American film critic Roger Ebert described the film as "moving and fascinating" and gave the film three out of four possible stars. Peter Travers of the American edition of Rolling Stone, on the other hand, wrote of The Box as a film “as ordered and not picked up. Damaged goods".

background

Richard Matheson's short story was already used as a template for the episode Just the Push of a Button (Button, Button) in Rod Serling's sci-fi and mystery series The Twilight Zone . The episode had a different ending and Matheson used his pseudonym "Logan Swanson" for the script. Basil Hoffman also starred in the film , who gave the stranger Mr. Steward in the Twilight Zone episode.

Web links

Commons : Location of the film The Box  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ imdb.com Soundtracks for The Box .
  2. ↑ Film review on rottentomatoes.com
  3. ↑ Film review on rogerebert.com
  4. ↑ Film review on rollingstone.com