The Box (2010)

A man visits Mr and Mrs Lewis' residence to explain that the small box device that was delivered to their doorstep this morning entitles them to make use of it by pressing the button on the box within a day. Nothing happens if the couple chooses not to press the button. If they do press the button however, they will receive one million dollars, but somewhere, anywhere, somebody will lose their life. Very interesting concept that regrettably does not develop into something more meaningful than the introductory ethical quest. The first half of the movie is good dare I say. Nonessential explicit content and generally pretentious in presentation, the world is nevertheless interesting. Very good mystery and atmosphere. In the second half though, the plot is being dragged to near tiring levels of speculation due to bad storytelling. From the abundance of out of place scenes, to the - in hindsight - gratuitous existence of some interesting characters met in the first half, the film tries so hard to adopt a pseudo-psychedelic feel, that the whole atmosphere is ruined. The acting gave me the impression of it being deliberately and successfully misleading, instead of unconvincing. The plot eventually makes sense, but never clicks. Good mystery halfway through this little less than 2 hours long film and occasionally nice ideas to keep the spectator on their toes. I can not find another reason to recommend it.