Lightning-in-a-bottle writer and director Richard Kelly has a lightning rod of a movie in “The Box.”

The dude behind “Donnie Darko” and kid from Richmond's South Side has crafted the kind of movie that will have some diggin’ its trippy cosmic karma, and others trashing its gimmick gone wild.

The TV trailer for “The Box” told us this movie was a straight-forward story about a pretty young couple from Richmond that gets a visit from a man with half a face. He hands them a box with a button. If they push it, they get a million bucks and some poor schlep they don’t know bites it. Running, yelling and general chaos ensues. We even recognize the faces; the NASA engineer husband Arthur Lewis is played by James Marsden, his English professor wife Norma by Cameron Diaz, and the mysterious visitor Arlington Steward, who has trouble purchasing decent-fitting sunglasses, is played by frequent flyer Frank Langella.

But those who saw “Donnie Darko” or followed the long, winding road of “Southland Tales” know that like Transformers or a Grace Street working girl with a 5 o’clock shadow, there’s more than meets the eye than the movie's 30-second cinematic strip tease leads on to. “The Box,” based on a short-story-turned-“Twilight Zone” episode called “Button, Button” blasts off at the 45-minute mark into a sci-fi stew that’s not exactly taken off the Hormel box top. It involves the NSA, extra-terrestrial interlopers and morality quagmires. And similar to “Donnie Darko,” where unfortunate events are precipitated by something falling from the sky, the same is true here. A lightning strike to the face of Mr. Steward puts him in communication with a higher intelligence, and soon he has an army of "Body Snatcher"-esque human drones to help him conduct experiments for his new employer above the clouds.

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In between muttering “huh?” and “wha?” Richmonders can admire their 1976-era cityscape, a primitive Ukrop’s shop and recognize dozens of other hometown shout-outs. A few shots were taken in the River City, but interiors and streetscapes were replicated in Boston, where lawmakers are smart enough to realize the importance of providing film productions discounts to encourage the huge return on investment that follows.

“The Box” is wildly ambitious in terms of its existential questions and sheer seismic storytelling. With all of “The Box’s” ambitions, it’s obvious that Kelly didn’t sweat the details as much as his grandiose vision. For example, after you push the button, you’re supposed to kill a stranger. But the box plot only targets Arthur Lewis’ Langley co-workers, a group to which Kelly’s real-life dad belonged. Even if Arthur’s not bosom buddies with the victim, he’s likely pulled up at government urinal next to the unlucky guy, right? And several bits of script seem forced after the credits roll, as they’re never resolved.

But middling criticism of the movie is just that, as I belong to the school that believes “The Box” is intriguing and riveting, even if it rambles on a bit too long, the afterlife allusions are a bit too much, and the structure nearly capsizes in the final act.

“The Box” marks a move toward more commercial filming by Richard Kelly, but he doesn’t sell out. Heck, he proves that even a movie with Cameron Diaz can give us brain cramps.

"The Box," with a running time of 116 minutes, is rated PG-13. Mike gives the movie 3/4 stars.

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