Cube Zero
by Ernie Barbarash
List Price:
Our Price: $13.49
You Save: $1.49 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 days
Buy Used: from $4.90 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Huband, Martin Roach, Michael Riley, Stephanie Moore, Zachary BennettDirector: Ernie Barbarash
Brand: Lions Gate
Producer: Ernie Barbarash
Writer: Ernie Barbarash
Producer: Dennis Berardi
Producer: Eric J. Robertson
Producer: Jon P. Goulding
Producer: Michael Paseornek
Producer: Peter Block
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
Movie Reviews of Cube Zero
Movie Review: Cube Cubed
Summary: 4 Stars
I find myself experiencing two schools of thought when it comes to the CUBE series. On the one hand, they are all poorly acted, with mostly redundant plots and predictable dialogue. On the other hand, their structures are so blatantly philosophical, so unabashadly symbolic, it's kind of a treat to sit back and fiddle with the concepts it represents. Sorta the same way you'd fill in a few of the boxes on a crossword puzzle you know you're never going to finish. It's addictive like that; a plate of cheese that people talk around even as they pick it apart.
And if you're wondering if these plates have the kind of cheese you like, then this review is for you.
Cube - People wake up in a labyrinthine cube with no idea of how they got there or why they've been kidnapped. They must navigate through a series of deadly traps, without knowing just what it is they're headed for (or even where it is). A doctor, a famous escapist, a cop, a mentally handicapped fella -- personalities clash, and what could've been a tight little parable of existentialism becomes a squabbling social commentary about the brutality of big, mean men. It's tense, but not paced particularly well, although the ending has a thankful spot of hope. Like the Rubik's Cube, most people will find this cube compelling for a few twists and turns, but are unlikely to find the ending all that rewarding. 3 1/2 stars.
Cube 2 - Hypercube - The cube has gone hyper! Dimensional that is. Gone is the first cube's relentless dankness, replaced here by sterile, unapologetic white. Although the new cube is also fraught with hidden perils, these are mostly of the multidimensional variety. What this means for you, the viewer, is that the traps are now CGI contraptions that look not convincing in the least. It also means that many rooms have their own gravity and "variable time speeds." Oh, I almost forgot, the most awesome thing it means is that it exists in multiple dimensions at once, so there are apparently about fifteen different copies of each person wandering around at the same time.
Did I say "awesome"? I'm sorry. I meant "unfortunate." Because this cube has basically no rules, virtually anything can happen, making what DOES happen less important in the long run. We've got some crazy characters -- a senile physicist, a blind girl, a private detective, a video game desinger and a lawyer -- and they all have connections with a scary-big corporation named Izon, but who cares? The least plot driven of the three movies, this film is also the darkest (in spite of how well-lit each frame is). And, of course, it succumbs to the same mistake as the first film. Instead of being about the little people coming to terms with the bizarre futility of their circumstances, it devolves into a big man going crazy and chasing everyone around with a knife. 2 stars.
CUBE ZERO - I don't know why they called this CUBE ZERO instead of CUBE CUBED. Maybe it's supposed to be a prequel, but I doubt it. It's possible they just thought "zero" sounded better than "three." Or maybe it's because, for the first time ever, the viewer is treated to life outside of the cube.
Don't worry. The cube is still there, just as gloomy and lethal as ever (and in far more vividly gross ways), but the group of people inside the box are at least as important as the people watching them. The watchers in this case are a couple of be-jumpsuited guys named Wynn and Dodd who sit around, play chess, and record people's dreams. These guys give the series a chance to do some more overt navel-gazing, but the end effect isn't that bad, even if it mostly just feels like a Pinter play. Specifically, THE DUMBWAITER. (Read it. It's good.)
Still, no matter how full of dread and terror his plays were, Pinter always kept the terrible and dreaded things off-stage. When Wynn begins to question his duties, eventually taking drastic measures to get some answers, he causes chaos in and out of the cube. Enter three of the dreaded higher-ups. An effete and over-acted character named Jax pops in, followed closely by two well-groomed go-fers. (Everytime Jax talked to them, I could swear he was calling them Thin and Quickly, but the credits list them as Finn and Quigley.) They are heralded with whimsically creepy violin music, like an incidental theme song, and although they aren't fooling around, their presence makes the whole thing far less ominous than it normally would.
Still, the wackiness they provde is menacing and self-assured, and it disguises a story with far more heart and smarts than its predecessors. Even if the story contains, yet again, a big, angry man chasing people around, that is a minor part of the much larger, much more hopeful picture. Satisfying in a lot of ways, this film also pays homage to fans who've endured the films from the beginning. 4 stars
Summary of Cube Zero
Every nightmare has a beginning. In this prequel to the cult hit Cube, one of the most successful sci-fi thrillers of the last decade, a new group of unwilling participants frantically moves through an ominous construct of cube-shaped rooms. Each room holds the threat of hideously inventive and painful death. Finding the real exit, however, may not offer the freedom one seeks.Following the grisly 1997 Cube and its 2002 sequel, Cube 2: Hypercube, Cube Zero stretches the original's The Twilight Zone-like, strangers-in-a-box theme a little thin. Fortunately, there's a difference this time. The hero is not just another disoriented captive of the Cube's interconnected--often lethal--rooms, but rather a geek named Eric (Zachary Bennett) who sits in a control station wrestling with his conscience about inflicting misery on innocent people. Taking orders over the phone from some almighty, unknown power in a distant office, Eric reaches a breaking point and enters the maze himself, intent on helping a woman (Stephanie Moore) who doubts his motives. The existential bent of the prior films becomes even more Kafkaesque this time with the arrival of a white-collar team of tormentors, bureaucratic tyrants who can't or won't explain the point of the Cube. Imaginative writer-director Ernie Barbarash rescues what might have been a tedious formula flick. --Tom Keogh
Horror DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in ScienceFiction/Cyberpunk/Dystopian
HackersTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 1998-08-25; DVD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops:
Cube ZeroLions Gate; Release date: 2005-02-22; DVD
Best price: $8.19
Price in other shops:
Children of Men (Widescreen Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2007-03-27; DVD
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops:
Demolition ManWarner Brothers; Release date: 1997-10-01; DVD
Best price: $4.17
Price in other shops:
A.I. - Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2002-03-05; DVD
Best price: $4.54
Price in other shops:
The X-Files - The Complete Fifth Season (Slim Set)Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2006-03-28; DVD
Best price: $17.83
Price in other shops:
Star Trek Fan Collective - BorgParamount; Release date: 2006-03-07; DVD
Best price: $21.49
Price in other shops:
MillenniumRelease date: 2001-10-23; DVD
Best price: $29.97
LifeforceTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 1998-05-27; DVD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Alien Quadrilogy (Alien/ Aliens / Alien 3 / Alien Resurrection)ALIEN QUADRILOGY; Release date: 2003-12-02; DVD
Best price: $24.22
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Dark City (New Line Platinum Series)Release date: 1998-07-29; DVD
Best price: $4.03
Price in other shops:
JumperTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-06-10; DVD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
I Am Legend (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition with Digital Copy)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $2.47
Price in other shops:
CloverfieldPARAMOUNT PICTURES; Release date: 2008-04-22; DVD
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Saw V (Unrated Director's Cut)Lions Gate; Release date: 2009-01-20; DVD
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
Saw IV (Unrated Widescreen Edition)LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2008-01-22; DVD
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Widescreen)Universal; Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
PiLions Gate; Release date: 1999-01-12; DVD
Best price: $5.53
Price in other shops:
CubeLions Gate; Release date: 1999-01-26; DVD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Cube 2 - HypercubeLions Gate; Release date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $8.32
Price in other shops: