With the summer blockbuster season over, and before the Oscar contenders come out we have this lull in the movies that are filling theaters. These are the movies not good enough for the Oscar, not thrilling enough for summer and not bad enough for January. In other words these are the films that are best seen in your living room on cable.
In this case we have The Box. At a first look at the trailer you would think that this is a new idea. That Hollywood finally came up with something different. But in fact its another in a long and growing line of movies that are a remake. In this case of a Twilight Zone episode from the 70's.
Now the film has of course been revisioned from the original idea. There is more violence, and a touch of the supernatural. Invariably extra has been added to the film to fill up time. Likely none of it is of much use.
I don't want to give up too much of what will happen in the film. Anyone who has seen a Twillight Zone marathon has likely seen the critical plot of the film. The episode was Button, Button. That was based on a short story in Playboy. This remake is so short on ideas that the film even takes place in the 70's.
I like Frank Langella. Carmeron Diaz is ok. But there is nothing really compelling here. It's just an attempt to make a quick buck based on the thought that moviegoers are too young to have seen the original and too lazy (or uninterested) to have seen a Twillight Zone marathon.
In general I dislike remakes. And I despise most revisioned fare from Hollywood. I see no reason for this film to change that general rule.
The entire movie is just what you see in the trailer. If you got a button that does what this does, would you use it? Once that question is answered, the movie is basically over. Just like it was on television.
Given that there is nothing else compelling in theaters right now, I would suggest that you just save your money. Or get a DVD of something you haven't seen in years, or ever. This will be on cable soon enough.
2 comments:
You spoke of a lazy audience. How about lazy journalism?
The film is bases on a short story by Richard Matheson, which was adapted as an episode of the Twilight Zone, but not the original show which aired from 1959-1964. The second Twilight Zone series aired from 1985-1989 and the third from 2002-2003, here was no original Twilight Zone episodes or series' during the 1970s.
Anonymous,
Lazy is hardly accurate. I suppose that's why you did not put your name here.
Yes the original story is from 1970, and the episode was from 1986. I did get the dates incorrect as I confused the 2 items. Though I did mention both as the source of this retread film.
Given that, it changes nothing about what my review says. Which was the focus of what I was speaking about.
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