When a seemingly bungled home invasion results in multiple murders, homicide detective Cris Romano (Gabrielle Union) and her partner, Dwayne Burkhalter (Giancarlo Esposito), focus on the sole survivor, Finn Williams (Yul Vazquez). An inelegantly scripted but passable thriller, The Box needed a stronger cast and tighter direction to generate the requisite suspense, which is somewhat lacking. Union isn’t convincing as a tough cop, and Vazquez doesn’t impress at all.

Shelf Talk: Squarely aimed at that segment of the marketplace attracted to such intricate thrillers as The Usual Suspects, this inexpensive mystery will be plugged on cable networks (including USA, TBS, VH1, FX, BET, MTV, E! and Sci Fi Channel) and have a strong presence online (at Yahoo, YouTube, MySpace, BlackFilm.com and Code Black’s database). It’ll need the support, especially since Union is the only real draw.