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I love this movie so much

Good movie but grossly overrated

Boring

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Two superior, non-pretentious performances make "Box 507" striking and memorable. Rafael Mazas (Jose Coronado) and Modesto Pardos (Antonio Resines) represent two distinct lives, one is an ex-cop mobster, the other a bank officer. Their lives are parallel and determinedly related but they barely touch. This is no "High Noon" . What we have in "Box" is a corrupt, corporate masculine world in which violence spirals out of control, and a civil world where law can still be used to obtain justice.Now the ex-cop's murderous rampage does pose a problem both for viewers and for the film itself. Some viewers may want to skip it, others may watch it reluctantly, and others will scoff at this. My own take is that if the director, Enrique Urbizu, had chosen to half the body count, this film would be a near classic. What makes this call harder is that it's an unusual combo of convincing characterization so typical in French films, and of a disturbing gratuitous violence so typical of Hollywood.What we can say about Coronado's portrayal of a mob affiliate is that it bears no resemblance to Clint Eastwood or Chuck Norris. His masculinity is not one-dimensional, nor bound to other men, nor polemical, nor is it aligned with patriotism. He's neither a man among men, nor a male imitator. If money and power are his driving force and if he's armed to the teeth, men and their games are far more dispensable to him than his love for his partner Monica Vega(Goya Toledo). But what brings out the worst--and best, in this man is an inescapable life and death crisis which is suddenly thrust at him. Unimaginable, unforeseen, and unlucky forces combine not only to test his very fiber, but seem to collude to block and frustrate his most compelling and riveting moves. Given this, his convincing physicality, his unrattled nerve, and his severe determination, are no less than magnetic. But perhaps it is this solitary heroism that seed his suicidal mission. Or perhaps it's the big heat taking its reckoning on his bad cop past, or the maddening quality of enduring severe frustrations. No matter the causes, we know that as his crisis deepens, his violence escalates into sadism and murder. Yes, his execution blitz may take down only the guilty, but there's no doubt about his ruthlessness, or his lost control. Even the hoist gang tremble at his lacerating cruelty. Only when captured by mob goons does he regain himself, proclaiming his lover as a victim of injustice, and demanding that he himself be immediately shot. The bank officer's motivation is not revenge, but rather justice--for a murdered daughter and a nearly murdered wife. He enacts his parallel commitment as a novice private investigator. Armed with nothing more than incriminating documents, and a determination that matches that of the ex-cop, he confronts equally dangerous situations and connections. Beyond his courage, and his pedestrian heroism, what is most rare about him is his unswerving love for his wife and his daughter. In fact, for Modesto Pardos combined love and justice underwrite his incredible persistence. He visits his comatose wife daily, reporting to her his progress, encouraging her in healing words, and reminding her of both her certain recovery and his equally certain legal victory. (The unpretentiousness here and its lack of conventionality is quite remarkable.) This reminds of one clear distinction between the Resines and Coronado characters. Pardos rejects his own interests and, in his risk ridden struggle, refuses to purge his feelings. That he never resorts to violence and rage, and instead relies on cunning, complex planning, and a kind of bold integrity, speaks of a control and competence informed as much by passion as on any fixation with scoring a victory. And that emotion goes beyond the lives of his wife and daughter to all those affected by the fires and land seizures. These people also drive his urgent research, and his pressing need to outsmart and outmaneuver the powerful controlling forces that cause pain and suffering. He takes the criminality as deadly serious because he takes its victims in a deadly serious way. When the two men are finally paired, they're the centrals stars of the mob's revenge, occupying their rooms of slaughter, with bleeding corpses strewn about them. The most dignified and loving thing for Razas to do, given his Monica's bloody corpse a few feet away, is to be shot down. The most dignified and loving thing for Pardos to do, given his wife is recovering, is to turn his back and walk out the door. Neither man deviates from his own script. For the viewers, the connection between the two protagonists might seem closer than it does to them, and ditto for the two women in their lives, who stand in for the civic notion in a deranged male world.

More or less in the 'cine noir' category, Urbizu sets us up with a refreshing thriller, almost as if he wanted to cock a snoot at the specialists in this genre on the other side of the big puddle. Interesting, even original, story, with good interpretations by both Resines and Coronado, neither of whom have ever been favourite actors for me. However here their playing is convincing and maintains tension throughout. Very definitely a 'masculine' film, as the ladies are very much relegated to minor roles. A very beautiful, exquisite Dafne Fernández (Goya en Burdeos) disappears rather promptly, and the equally adorable Goya Toledo was given a disappointingly secondary part to play. Be that as it may, the story holds interest, brings out all that charming world of corruption and mafias on Spain's 'Casta del Sol' as well as other deviations in today's world - deliberate forest fires, wife-beating............Certainly worth a watch if you find this one on TV or on DVD; but do not expect an easy-to-swallow job, as the viewer's concentration has to play an active part - and there are not many films in this genre that manage that!If you enjoy this film you might well like '99.9' (1997) (qv).

An interesting thriller of Spanish atmosphere, where they are mixed the dark financial manipulations of certain economic groups with the thirst of justice - vengeance? of a normal man that is involved in it by chance. Good work of Antonio Resines who leaves their comic appearance to make a serious and austere role. Two purely casual facts and its apparent relationship among them becomes a line of investigation that takes us toward a prospective but not less interesting end. Something superficial as for the character that José Coronado plays - the "key of the action" something primitive in his decisions with good performance touches in brief appearances - Sancho Gracia - give a good inflection point to the film keeping the lines of interest until the end. I think Spanish cinema has begun to reach an improvement in its thrilling genre productions . This movie is a sample.

Spoilers alert: there is no way to state the plot of this movie without at least one spoiler, so you can either watch it for the first time without reading this (which I recommend), or read on anyway.Antonio Resines stars as the father of a girl who he had thought died in an accidental forest fire. Once he wakes up (alone) after he is locked in the safety-deposit vault of his bank after being bound and drugged, he accidentally sees some documents. These documents reveal to him, the manager of the bank whose safety-deposit boxes were robbed, that the fire was caused to bring down property values due to the stigma of a young girl dying there.So, he ties loose ends, and sets out for justice against all that were involved in the nasty plot. Oh, in case you read on without having seen the movie I have good news: I left enough out for you to watch and enjoy thoroughly.A well-directed and acted movie, it is a prime example of the sort of quality film Spain produces on a regular basis. So, I obviously recommend it.