“Marster’s made the “right” decission by killing his wife. So humanity is not doomed for the time being (right?). Ok, I guess.”

made me laugh. Is this guy (Richard Kelly) for real?

I look forward to that day.

B-)

OK sorry…I couldn’t resist. Don’t hurt me.

A) yeah, it is sort of like Saw from the get-go is not? A test by some mysterious overseer of doing the right thing and/or sacrificing someone/something else?

B) Saw one is a great and innovative movie with shitty acting.

C) The more I think about this and the more I realize how much thought can go into this discussion is making me realize, as Bob said, “that’s gotta be worth something.” I’m betting in 10 years you’ll love this movie Kurt. I’m a bit surprised you’re not at least partially on board for doing right all the things that Southland Tales did wrong.

Putting aside Bob’s argument – which I think is totally valid – it would be something to ponder. Then the lady across town would still press the button and everyone in the Marsden household lives. Thereby breaking “the curse.” Or maybe thereby sending the message to Major Langella that we are capable of making decisions based on logic and the betterment of humanity. Though he may get the wrong idea and think it is about greed – which it clearly would not be.

On the choice to kill or not kill Diaz – Agreed Bob. I’m not saying either is necessarily the right choice, but it seems like it’s just an automatic given in the movie as to their choice. I don’t have kids but I like to think that I understand the unconditional and unfathomable love one has for their children. So maybe the decision to them was a no-brainer. However, considering everything they went through for the past few weeks, you would think they would at least examine the possibilities before carrying out such an extreme measure.

In the spirit of paranoid 70s filmmaking, that is the best explanation i’ve heard yet for “THE BOX” but man it is still one helluva stretch. The movie has to do what it is doing a bit better for me to give it a pass like that. Talk to me in 10 years and see if I feel any different, but then, I’ll probably be watching Southland Tales, the third directors cut.

As for whether the button being pressed by the other couple actually leads to Marsden killing Diaz, I agree with Rusty in that the editing sure made it seem that way, but I’m not sure it is even related…The decision time for The Box is always around the same time as the decision the previous couple will have to make regarding child vs wife, so they will usually happen in parallel. But I’m wondering whether the button being pressed actually does kill anyone else – perhaps it means that YOU will die if you press the button. I know it’s supposed to be someone you don’t know, but there was earlier reference about whether the couple even knew each other. So how well do you even know yourself? Do you really know what you are capable of? Would Diaz’s character have thought that she could be selfish enough to press the button? And by the end, she’s different – acting very selflessly in giving up her life for her child.

Don’t know…Just running off at the mouth here. But I like the fact that the movie makes me wander down those paths – that’s gotta be worth something.

I don’t know. It could be. But I just think it was one of those coincidences that’s just trying to send the audience a message. Maybe the box is simply a red herring. Someone always dies somewhere at all times right? So the button could be killing anyone. I think the button pressing and Marsden shooting his wife is simply a metaphor or something.

It’s reminding me of something that happens in another movie but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it is.

@ I don’t think the button being pressed caused Marsden to pull the trigger

I don’t know. The way the scene is edited, it seems impossible to conclude anything other than the button is deciding Marsden’s actions.

Rusty – everything you just wrote I think is correct. The movie DOES corner you into thinking that the right choice by the couple is to kill the wife. I didn’t understand that at all as it was happening. They don’t even really think about it. It’s as if the choice to shoot her was so obvious and I’m thinking to myself, “wait a minute… why do you HAVE to kill her!? Let’s think about this for a second.” So I think picking right would be to NOT shoot Diaz – thus the button would not be pushed… maybe?

“Of course he’s letting his kid take the brunt of the punishment but at least they’re both still alive. Sure the kid’ll be deaf and blind. But that happens sometimes at least he’ll have parents who love, plus a million dollars.” – This was my thought exactly.

I don’t think the button being pressed caused Marsden to pull the trigger; I think it was the other way around. Had he made the right choice, maybe the button would’ve simply killed someone else? Which of course is stupid. Because doesn’t someone on the earth die like every second anyway? Probably more per second than just one. So push the fucking button because people are dying by the hundreds every moment anyway.

I actually think I just talked myself into liking the ending.

It’s ingenius because it presents itself as an abrahamic eye for an eye style morality tale. Wherein man is doomed by his inherited sinful nature.
But it then reveals itself to be an Eastern morality tale. Wherin man escapes his fate by rejecting eye for eye justice and reversing the direction of the karmic wheel.

unless, maybe letting his wife off the hook and is the right choice after all.
Of course he’s letting his kid take the brunt of the punishment but at least they’re both still alive. Sure the kid’ll be deaf and blind. But that happens sometimes at least he’ll have parents who love, plus a million dollars.
Now the kid inherrits a million dollars but he’s orphaned. And you KNOW that million’s not coming to him no strings attached. No way does Old Man Lightning Face’s fun house of intruige stop here, as the last shot of the movie (in the window) tells us.

The box constitutes a cycle of violence. A woman presses the button, causing her husband to kill, causing the man to become an Employee, and the curse is transfered on to the kid.
Each time the participant choses something over life. Maybe all any of them have to do to end the cycle is to choose life. The button isn’t causing Marsten to kill Diaz, it just sets in motion a deterministic sequence. But by exerting free will they can stop the cycle.(though, this would’ve been clearer if the two events had been shown happening simultaneously)
Langella has a line where he says the cycle will continue until enough people choose right. Maybe “enough people” is one. Spooky.

@ I would say BOTH of their decisions were wrong. Pushing the button and pulling the trigger are both murder.

but correct me if I’m wrong, it seems like that the film dictates to us that killing his wife is the RIGHT descision. We’re told that the fate of man kind depends on him making the picking right. Was he supposed to the money while his kid goes deaf and blind?

Besides, according to the end of the movie it wasn’t even Cyclops’s call. The nameless lady made the call when she pushed the button. So I’m even more confused as to what the point of the movie is.

That’s just nitpicking. The end of the Mist is awesome!

You could say the same thing about almost any time travel movie though. Sort of a different take on the grandfather paradox.

I would say BOTH of their decisions were wrong. Pushing the button and pulling the trigger are both murder. Period. The world is doomed ala The Day the Earth Stood Still style politics.

No, because one more person who doesn’t push the button is a good thing in the eyes of Langella right?

And anyway, I’m not convinved that Marsden killing his wife WAS the right decision was it? Why not let his life live and try to work through his son’s disability. I know it’s tough, but what happened to the kid was through no fault of theirs was it? Langella and crew abducted the kid and did that to him. Seems very un-God-like to me.

and think about it for a second:

Marster’s made the “right” decission by killing his wife. So humanity is not doomed for the time being (right?). Ok, I guess.

but his descission was actually made by the woman pushing the button. Which was the wrong descission that puts someone else in the same position.

What? So if the nameless woman hadn’t pushed the button then I guess Marsten would’ve let his wife live and taken the money but humanity would be doomed? Right?

What kind of “moral” is that?

I guess it’s no worse than every other theistic morality tale. Maybe it’s just a theist thing.

@ if Marsden’s decision is tied to the exact second the next couple hits the button

if??? I’ve heard other people quibble with this as well but it doesn’t make sense. Sure you could interpret it some other if you want but Kelly goes out of his way to make it as clear as possible that button push=>Diaz dead.