Box

Self indulgence at the expense of a group of students weekend off... I assume thats how long it took to make this.

First of the warning signs for me was the Typical crap film, the single filming location. It signals no budget or even permission to film anywhere but their mates spare room. This barely works when it got really talented people working on it.

2nd warning sign was the long credits at the start, nothing hints at a low quality production than the actual makers of the thing not having the confidence that the audience is going to be around at the end (I wasnt) And 3rd warning sign is when the writer, director is also then star...

This is the type of stuff students make for a project and get a barely passing grade and never watch it again... the fact this appears on Prime Video is baffling as Im sure back in the day it wouldnt even get on the shelf in a poundshop.

A great film made by Matt Shaw and Maria. Really well done on the visuals and storytelling in this one. If you're a fan of films like Oldboy and Saw then you'll love this. Keep watching until the very end. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

About ten minutes in, I thought this was a duffer. I hated the voice outside of the box and the protagonist (who also wrote and directed it) wasn't really my cup of tea. It was taking me out of the moment and stopping me engaging, until.... it didn't. I suddenly found myself an hour in completely in the zone. I'm not claiming that it's incredibly well done or executed, because in a lot of ways it isn't. It probably didn't have a lot of money in its defence. But it pulled me along for the ride and I never got bored, which is impressive for a single person / location film. Not a bad time from Matt Shaw.

About ten minutes in, I thought this was a duffer. I hated the voice outside of the box and the protagonist (who also wrote and directed it) wasn't really my cup of tea. I saw it through however but didn't enjoy it, but then I didn't mind the end bit. Naaaah... It was taking my out of the moment and stopping me engaging, until.... it didn't. I suddenly found myself an hour in completely in the zone. I'm not claiming it's incredibly well done, because in a lot of ways it isn't. But it pulled me along for the ride and I never got bored, which is impressive for a single person / location film. Naaaaah...

It's clearly meant to have been a simple, but deep and thought-provoking movie. I've seen a fair few of those. This isn't one of them.

It was, frankly, rather boring, with face-value dialogue and meaning. Nothing much original about it. The acting wasn't awful, but it was mediocre - think am-dram. It didn't capture any real emotion - it just felt fake. This left you not caring about the main protagonist at all.

Without any spoilers, the finale wasn't worth the long wait. The movie was gross in places, which would have been absolutely fine, but it wasn't done in any interesting way.

The man is kept in an 'inescapable' box - made from thin mdf panels and some chicken-wire. It would have been more believable if they'd, perhaps, made it look metallic.

In terms of the cinematography, the chromatic filters stripped the red colour out of the movie, leaving an unappealing blue-green-yellow hue that wasn't pleasant to look at for long periods (even black & white would have been more appealing to watch).

I just kept wanting the movie to end, hoping for a decent twist at the end. That never came.

Giving it 2 stars as I think 1 star may be a little unfair. But it really can't get any more than 2.

I simply cannot recommend spending over an hour sitting through this. Save yourselves.