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The Kovak Box | 
 enlarge | Director: Daniel Monzon
Actors: Timothy Hutton, David Kelly, Lucia Jimenez
Studio: First Look
Category: Movie
Buy New: $2.99
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 14562
Genre: Thrillers
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 109 Minutes
ASIN: B001B5V0YI
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2006
Release Date: June 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
David Norton is used to being in control. As a best-selling author, he decides the fate of his characters; his heroes, his villains, their lives and deaths. But what happens when his fictional world becomes all too real? When David arrives in an idyllic Mediterranean island for a conference, his fiancee receives a strange call and jumps to her death from their hotel balcony. As he begins piecing answers together, people start inexplicably committing suicide all around him. Now David has become the reluctant hero of his own living story, and this time he has no idea how it will end. |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Hutton's lost cause October 24, 2008
Bennet Pomerantz (Seabrook, Maryland)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Oscar winner Timothy Hutton stars in this spanish made film.
He plays Science Fiction Author David Norton. He is invited to an island conference. He takes his girl friend, asks her to marry him
A DVD appears in his room and she commits suicide..and then more people start dying. He is usually in control, suddenly life takes a nasty spin.
Hutton takes the lead with this weak script. The plot wears thin after the first 30 minutes and then it starts to drag. There is no sub plots. The suspense of this film feels disjointed and starts to bore. There are no thrills to capture an audience. Towards the end, Hutton looks bored as lead and the film falls apart
Try to miss this one in your video store, until all the other good films are rented
Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD
 Great Seller. July 15, 2008
C. Wang
It was great! I love the NEW DVD, it came on time and in excellent condition, ALL sellers should be like this, I would buy more things.
Assisted Suicide... June 22, 2008
Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein (under the rubble)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Prolific sci-fi writer, David Norton (Timothy Hutton) is at a conference in Majorca. All seems perfect, as David is the guest of honor, and even uses the occasion to ask his girlfriend to marry him. David is approached by an elderly man (David Kelly) who is a huge fan, and has some rather cryptic things to say. David thinks nothing of it and moves on. When he and his bride-to-be arrive at their posh hotel room, things begin to unravel. David finds a bizarre DVD on the bed containing what appears to be animal torture. The phone rings, The fiancee commits "suicide", and David's life is thrust into a nightmare world of governmental control, conspiracy, and mass murder. He is joined by Silvia (Lucîa Jiménez) who is the only person David can trust. THE KOVAK BOX is a mental labyrinth, an invisible trap where David is confined and compelled by stimuli to do the bidding of the insane Frank Kovak. Kovak is able to manipulate David in broad daylight, without fear of discovery or interruption. How is this possible? Ah, that's half the fun! David soon realizes that Kovak is not only deranged, but has built the box so well that there may be no way of escape. I found this movie to be exhilerating from start to finish, plot holes and all! Well worth owning...
I expected more..... February 25, 2008
D. Landry (Ottawa)
The 2 stars goes to Timothy Hutton for his great performance, truly an outstanding actor! But... the movie... well not so great. I was left somewhat disappointed. It starts well and gives you the impression of a good movie but then it evolves into a bizarre scenario that completely fails to keep up the suspenseful tone of the start, and is in fact rather wearisome and inconclusive at times. It's as if they are trying really hard to achieve a goal with a poor script... I expected more that's all...
 Some Good Qualities but Seriously Flawed.... August 24, 2007
The Jaundiced Eye (Texas, USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am not as excited about this movie as other reviewers seem to be. It was worth watching, but contained a serious flaw that detracted from the viewing experience:
It suffered from the "Mission Impossible Syndrome" in which a character wants to accomplish a reasonably simple goal, but then resorts to wildly implausible, ridiculously complex methods to achieve the goal. In this case, as I interpret the plot, the rich old geezer (well played by David Kelly) wants the famous author (played by Timothy Hutton) to write a story about the geezer's fabulous scientific accomplishments and then kill him, both to make him famous and to spare him from a lingering, painful death due to brain cancer.
I guess just hiring an author to write the story and then seeking euthanasia (widely available, especially in Europe) were apparently way too simple for our villain. Instead, he sets up headquarters on the beautiful island of Majorca (coincidentally the writer/director's homeland), arranges for implants to be placed in 100 airline passenger's necks (which would be beyond impossible with today's supertight airline security), then uses the implants to compel the victims to commit ghastly suicides when they hear the song "Gloomy Sunday", all in hopes that this will inspire Hutton's character, the author, to write a story about it....making the demented old lunatic the "star" of the lurid tale. Never mind that the hugely negative (dare I say Hitleresque) fame resulting from a crime of this magnitude would certainly not be desireable, and definitely not worth the incredible expense and effort needed to pull it off. Indeed, he could have probably just skipped the implants and induced quite a few suicides simply by playing the song....it's a real "downer".
Common sense would dictate that if he were rich enough to finance this preposterous scheme, then he probably could have hired a Pulitzer-prize-winning author to immortalize his achievements and then fly to Sweden for a catered orgy/assisted-suicide bash with live entertainment by Destiny's Child. Instead, he resorts to this wildly implausible plan. But let's face it, if a writer/director is absolutely determined to make a movie on his home island of Majorca, why would he let an implausible story line interfere with his plans?
On the plus sides, the scenery is magnificent and the female lead, Lucia Jimenez is a pleasure to watch....sort of a "poor man's" Paz Vega. Production values are first rate and the acting is good overall.
Speaking of which, be sure to watch Timothy Hutton in the "special features" at the end of the DVD. He is apparently a very honest man, for despite his actor's training and experience, he has great difficulty expressing any real enthusiasm for the plot or his character. He knows the absurdity of the story line, and to his credit, he lets it show. Pay heed to Tim's lack of enthusiasm and watch this overdone potboiler with your common sense firmly on "pause".
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