The Box

The Box (2009) is the story about a young couple struggling to get by, who one day receives a mysterious box on their porch. The box contains an encased button, and when pushed, one million dollars will be given to them in cash. Another consequence of pushing this button however, is that one human being somewhere in the world that they do not know, is going to die.

The couple soon find themselves in numerous moral dilemmas, where the consequences are dire, which ever way they choose to go. They have to face the true nature of their identity, and learn the ultimate meaning of sacrifice.

I really enjoyed the story itself, which is based on a novel called Button, Button. The acting was not bad, and it was very nice to see Cameron Diaz in something else than that over-smiling bimbo she normally plays — and she does it very well!

The movie is somewhat slow in the beginning, but as the plot thickens, so does the pace of the movie. It becomes ever more intriguing with plot twists around every corner, not to mention the homage to the the sci-fi movies of the 70′s.

The problem with this movie is that you really need to see it for what it is. If you are expecting guns and explosions every ten seconds, see something else. This does instead lean more on the drama/mystery part of sci-fi and not on the action part. You could think of this movie more as an episode of The X-Files on crack.