Pandora's Box

When I learned that "Pandora's Box" was finally coming to selected theaters located in Baltimore, I was more than thrilled. After viewing Rob Hardy's first film, "Trois", I was surprised to see that this young, up-and-coming director pushed the envelope with powerful dialogue and talented actors such as Gary Dourdan ("A Different World", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation") and Kenya Moore ("Senseless"). "Trois" was definitely a must-see. Now with "Pandora's Box" Rob Hardy and his crew at Rainforest Productions have made another film that pushes the envelope even further.

"Pandora's Box" is about a psychologist named Mia (Monica Calhoun) who helps a troubled patient (Chrystale Wilson) deal with the untimely death of her husband (Tyson Beckford). But soon after, Mia finds her her own life being examined as she takes her patient's advice and becomes involved in the underworld of sexual empowerment. She then meets Hampton Hines (Michael Jai White), a mysterious stranger who Mia becomes intrigued by. As emotions grow strong and her marriage to her husband (Kristoff St. John) going down the drain, Mia commits several acts of adultery and infidelity with Hampton only to find herself getting even deeper in a world of sex, money and murder.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you are missing out on a good and entertaining movie. But please remember to leave the kids at HOME!!!!

The movie starts off - upping the ante. Where there was no real nudity in the first Trois movie, the sequel kicks off things with a scene that does not cover up anything - no pun intended. And including Michael Jai White in the movie - that Dude has some serious charisma. If you are into men, you probably will also like other qualities in/on him - mainly physical ones I assume.

That being said, the main female character is also someone you won't mind looking at. So getting these two together sounds like a perfect match. Of course this being a "Trois" movie, there is more to it than that. You have another man in this case - a man who seems not to love his wife ... there are a few things going on. Most are predictable. The twist is too I reckon - maybe not from the start, but there is a reason for that.

I went to the video store and found all the latest movies were out. And the movies that were there, I've seen. But I wanted to see a movie. SoI thumbed through the older movies and found Trois 2.

I wasn't expecting much, since I never held of the movie. But I have to say I thought it was very good...thanks a lot to the sexual content. The sex in this movie was an eye full. They held no punches. The story is okay. The twist at the end was nice! Nice as in very very good.

In short, this is an entertaining and simulating movie. This is a sequel. I never saw the original. I plan to check it out and or buy both.

The independently produced PANDORA'S BOX finally made its way to a big screen in Columbia, SC in December 2002. Knowing that it was a follow-up to TROIS for director Rob Hardy, I didn't expect much, but I did expect to see an improvement in overall quality from what I saw in TROIS. PB failed to meet that expectation. In fact, I thought the quality of the film was worse than TROIS and anybody who thinks PANDORA'S BOX is good has very low standards for films.

Produced in Atlanta, PANDORA'S BOX appears to have been shot on a shoestring budget. The plot is pretty good but the script is so bad-- there are several grammatical challenges and lame dialogue at times-- the film never has a chance. Add some very flat acting and mediocre cinematography and you have the makings of something that is, well, not enjoyable.

Michael Jai White (Spawn, Half Past Dead), Monica Calhoun (The Best Man, The Player's Club) and Kristoff St. John (The Young and The Restless) star. All are decent actors in other films and on television but even their talents can't save this bad script. I was quite disappointed. Model Tyson Beckford also appears briefly in the film. No acting skills here. Just a body that most women would kill to see naked. And, they can in this movie.

Unfortunately, I saw a lot of flesh in the film that would have been better kept clothed. Calhoun is not the near perfectly shaped young woman she was in THE BEST MAN. At times, she looks as if she was in the early stages of pregnancy when the film was shot and we're still shown her bare belly. Crystale Wilson, who also appeared in THE PLAYER'S CLUB with Calhoun, is absolutely horrible in this film. She too should have kept her clothes on in the film or made the director hire better makeup and lighting artists. Her stretch marks were quite unappealing as was her mustache.

PANDORA'S BOX does have moments. Small flashes of brilliance. For instance, the opening scene is gripping. It's one of the few well shot sequences in the film. Sensual and suspenseful. For the most part, though, this film is woefully bad. So bad, one of the people in our group walked out midway through. He couldn't take it anymore and went to the lobby to play video games.

If this is the best Rob Hardy can do, he should pursue another career. I have a feeling he won't be able to sucker folks back to theaters to see another effort.

Someone else mentioned that this movie was very reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. This was just the black version. The plot of this movie was overpowered and entangled around an obviously pregnant star. It just irked me that she was pregnant and it didn't seem to fit into the movie's plot. It's like they ignored the fact that she was pregnant and jsut "shot around" the scenes that showed her being naked were shot from the wrong angle, they just reinforced the fact that she was pregnant. I kind of feel like if white actors were used this would have been a much better movie. If a white actress was pregnant and showing as much as the lead actress they would have replaced her. This definitely took away from the movie.

Oh well I'm through with this. I can't get away from the pregnancy thing.