A couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) is delivered a box containing a machine. As they're told by the disfigured man who sent it (Frank Langella), if they push the button on it once, he'll give them a million dollars and somebody in the world they don't know will die. For about an hour, Kelly has made The Box a notable recovery from the debacles of Southland Tales and Donnie Darko: The Cut Where the Editor Didn't Save My Movie's Ass. He approaches his 1970s Virginia setting with washed-out pastels unseen since The Ice Storm, extending the unique artifice to the dialogue and acting. It's by midpoint that Kelly's contraption unravels into subplots, losing its focus on characters and its grip on viewers. As it reveals itself as a complex reworking of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Kelly delivers some payoff.
The ending ties up certain parallels nicely, even if it's easy to hypothesize those revelations beforehand. Other aspects, such as the symbolic connection of Diaz's and Langella's deformities, and a baptismal portal, just annoyingly linger. Not without interest, the inconsistent The Box opens to a collection of scenes that work and scenes that don't. Assembly required. –Mark Palermo