The Box

At least Sartre's face wasn't made from crappy CGI.

After spending millions of dollars to create a 1970's NASA hanger, the producers of The Box must have decided that instead of making a movie, they wanted to make a dramatic instructional video for future generations of screenwriters. They should have called this film "How To Mangle Exposition," or "Philosophical Topics: Let's Abuse Them".

Surprise: the Creator (or 'the power responsible for lightning' in this film's mystical jargon) wants to test human fidelity to the categorical imperative. According to Kant, we're supposed to be hard-wired to universalize our maxims before acting morally; according to The Box it's somehow fair to 'test' people by making them desperate for money and then offering them cash with unobvious negative consequences. This makes no sense.

Another surprise: the depiction of 1970s wives as more morally vulnerable than their husbands, willing to 'push the button' for money and tear the roof down. Really? Does NOW have a film review council?

The only good thing to say about this film is that it's not the worst film about death, disease, free-will, the afterlife, and the non-specific divinity. That honor belongs to The Fountain.