The Box

This movie was much better than I expected.  That doesn't mean I loved it, but I definitely didn't hate it (well, maybe I hated it, but I hated it less than I thought I would).  I left and asked two girls leaving who looked college age what they thought.  They both shared zero understanding of the story they had just been told.  I tried to explain it to them, focusing on the point that it's simpler than they thought, but they still didn't get it.

I doubt revealing plot elements here will ruin anyone's day, but honestly just don't read this if you care.

The movie frames itself as this big, deep puzzle, but it's rather easily summed up.  When NASA sent a ship to Mars, they brought something back.  Through a bolt of lightning the Martians possessed the would-be deceased Frank Langella character with the unnecessarily dramatic name of Arlington Steward.  Steward acts as a proxy for the Martians, who want to run tests on human beings to essentially decide if they are worthy of living--for if their living would mean eventually cohabiting Mars.  The eponymous Box marks the beginning of a series of moral tests which obviously we all fail, choosing self interest over what we know to be right.  All of this is revealed through dialogue in only a few scenes, which are few and far between, with a whole lot of why am I on the edge of my seat? in between.