Movies & TV Shows

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WP-DFA wrote:

SPOILERS 

 

 

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JOKERSHENCHMAN wrote:

I rented The Box and watched it and this has to be one of the most confusing, smart, hard to follow movies I`ve ever seen.

I`m still really confused about the whole thing, was the old mans (Stuards) "employers" aliens? Is he himself some kind of alien/spirit/god?

I understood that Stuards "employers" want to test everybody with the box, and if too many people push the button, mankind will end. 

This movie was INCREDIBLY confusing.

Can someone who`s a rocket scientist explain this movie? 

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Loved it as well, still my favourite work from Richard Kelly is Southland Tales, but I was quite happy with this one as well, much better than what the previews offer.

However the reason it's not explained word for word in front of your face is so that the audience can create their own conclusion. Some people think it has to do with God and religion, while others think it's more of a straight up sci-fi route, and on and on. Personally this is what I thought, in short form.

 

- He wasn't an alien, he was a human (as evident in the past photos and such), but when he was struck by 'lightning' his body was taken over by whatever force/lifeform/alien/power/etc. and from there controlled his body, not really him but rather using his body as a shell.

 

- He may have been somewhat consious to the things that were going and and the things that he was doing, but knowing that he really had no power over it so he just 'worked' for whatever was controlling him. To me it seemed that there may have been some human left in him, as when he said something along the lines of 'go ahead and kill me, but they'll get another to fill my duties as fast as you can pull the trigger', however at the same time I questioned myself on that one, as it could have just been the quote unquote alien speaking saying that you can kill this human/body but you can't kill me, I, or another will come down into someone else -- AKA you can't stop us.

 

However you or others may have a completely different stance on it, and neither is more right than one another. Hell I remember having looked online after Iw atched it at some mesage boards and there were literally pages of how the movie directly deals with god, the bible and christianity, lol. Hope some of this helped your confusion a tad.

 

Cheers

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I am leaning towards the alien theory myself but I can see the religious connection people are making. I think he still had free-will in a sense that he wasn't told word for word what to say or feel but couldn't control the outcome of things even if he wanted to. Proof of this is by some of the subtle things he does or how he acts,like when Norma and Arthur acknowledge he smiled after they asked him about the after life. I got the impression that sometimes he has to do his job to good people shown through his apparent connection to Norma and offering her some comforting last words. I think he had just become disconnected with humans once he was hit by lightning and scarred. Then he started seeing people as test subjects once given the order and became more disconnected until he asks her if she felt pity for him when she opened the door to which she replies something along the lines of "No. I felt love".

I think he truely felt sorry that she pushed the button as he was leaving because of this connection and that maybe he even questioned if the test was flawed if even good people push the button. Though, as pointed out he would have been powerless to stop it regardless of how he felt.

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bravebraveSrobin wrote:

You guys know this movie is based off an actual sociological hypothetical situation? 

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not exactly...

the film is based off the short story Button Button written in the 70's, it was already adapted before into a Twilight Zone episode as well, which was actually pretty entertaining, and I'm glad this was made as it's such an interesting idea, especially when expanded into a full movie.