Cube

The Cube is one of those 'just on the verge of becoming a cult movie' titles that unfortunately doesn't quite stick the landing, but it'll leave you thinking of just "what even is the point.." to many things afterwards.

Is it social commentary? Philosophical? Perhaps. But not obvious when watching it as it tries to entertain you.

Content warning for body horror, although as a teen watching this on VHS, the effects are pretty awesome and not something you forget easily, heck, the Resident Evil movie that came not soon after this one even lifted one of the horrible ways someone can die - and hint hint, the title gives it away.

8 is perhaps a high score, because while it is memorable and definitely worth watching for any true scifi fan, it is pretty hammy in most other aspects.

Cube is a movie that explores human nature and our instinctive urges for survival vs our humanitarianism. Not a new concept, I know, however this movie does it in style, with a plot so simple that it could only be the work of a conceptual genius. I don't intend to give too much away, as the power of the film lies in it's mystery, but I will say that this movie could almost be classified as disturbing, not due to its content, but rather the thoughts that it instills in the audience. I found myself rather shaken as I left the cinema, feeling as though I had been exposed to an ugly, hidden side of humanity and society. Don't get me wrong, this movie is definitely worth seeing, I would even be so bold as to say that it must be seen! I must admit that there are few movies I have seen that have had such a profound affect on me, and I don't think I am alone in my feelings.

Great. Another shining example of how my inadequacy in mathematics could be the end of me. I used to skip math class. I took the bare minimum requirement expected of me and passed with something less than flying colours. The point is, math is all that separates our "heroes" from certain death in this arena.

"Cube" is an innovative little thriller that can safely dodge accusations of blandness or mediocrity. The premise is simple and the plight of the characters is highly relative despite its surrealistic science fiction setting. Six individuals find themselves trapped in a cube comprised of many rooms linked together, with no readily visible way out, no rations, tools or explanation for being there, with traps set up in some of the rooms. An apparent experiment on how people think and react to certain situations and the transformations they might undergo.

The simplicity of the film and the cube itself are the film's strongest assets and can probably account for it's international success, notably in Japan. It's low budget production costs came under $400,000. But they got a really good bang for their buck with some help from special effects houses that provided their services free of charge. As the director has commented on the audio commentary track of the DVD, one aspect they were going for was a way to have an action flick in one room. They pulled it off quite nicely. Another interesting tidbit brought to light was that each character's name is after a prison.

A curious aspect of this Canadian film was its surprisingly short run in Canadian cinemas. In speaking with one of the film's producers, Mehra Meh, I learned that despite it's award as "Best First Feature" at the Toronto Film Festival of 1997, the film run in Canada came a year later and was just for a few short weeks before it was yanked from theaters and then showcased internationally. When time came for the DVD release, I found another perplexing development. It was only available as an import. A Canadian film only available as an import in Canada? It wasn't until months later that it was released domestically.

In any case, the film is available now and worth checking out if you have interest in the psychological thriller fare. Those who work their days or nights (or both) in a cubicle may wish to pass on this one, as it just might be too close to home.

Quentin wakes up in a square room with exits on each wall. Soon he is joined by other people, strangers, who also have no idea where they are. Looking around they find that each room leads to another one that looks just the same. One of the group is the famous prison escape artist Rennes, who realises that some of the rooms are booby-trapped but that he thinks he has got the solution. With no other ideas the group follow him and try to evade the traps and stay alive – all the time with absolutely no idea of why they are here or who has imprisoned them.

I heard about this film years ago but only recently managed to find it on television to watch. It is hard to think that it is almost a decade old now but that it is still effective and a regular cult movie that people will still talk about. Its power is in its simplicity – every room is the same and every next room could be safe or could be a trap; there is no reason for any of it and there appears to be no way out. Usually this sort of stuff makes for a great pitch but not always a good movie because the idea can't stretch beyond a catchy gimmick, however here it does it and makes it look easy. The whole film is our characters trying to work their way through the rooms without getting horribly killed. This in itself is gripping and at times unbearable to watch – horror fans may be disappointed that long periods go by without a lot of gore but personally I prefer tension to the delivery.

At the same time we also get the characters feeding the mystery of the cube, building the tension and the sense of hopelessness without ever really solving anything. It answers questions with more questions and keeps things moving well. The development of the characters is better than I expected and I liked the way that the film played with the characters, changing them as the film went along. It isn't a fantastic character piece but again it is just something that helps keep the film moving and I suppose it was interesting to see the nature of people come out. In that regard I was also impressed by the cast. I had expected poor performances from a low budget film but actually they were all quite good. Wint is best but towards the end his performance became a bit too simplistic. Hewlett underplays and probably has the least character to deal with but is still good. De Boer was effective and interesting. Robson was a nice distraction. Guadagni was a good counterweight for Wint and played well to develop him and herself at the same time. Miller was good and the pace of the film helped distract from him basically doing a Rain Man impression.

Overall an impressive low budget thriller that works because it sticks to the simple idea while building side issues with the characters and the cube around it but never actually solving anything. Perhaps it is better not to over praise it because I thought it was at its best because I didn't know what was going to happen.

One of the best films I've seen in years. Original, suspenseful, frightening. The idea and execution of this film is so simple yet it's still a very complex and brilliant piece of work. The acting is sometimes a little over the top but it still works. The most amazing thing to me is that the filmmakers only built one cube and made it seem like they made several. This is clever, clever filmmaking. Whoever said there are no good ideas left hasn't seen 'Cube'. Dig it.