Cube
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Movie Reviews of Cube
Movie Review: The meaning of CUBE
Summary: 5 Stars
I believe that CUBE has a deeper meaning than just inacting how humans react in extreme situations.
To state the conclusion first :
Cube is a film about language and structure that humans are forever bound to.
In CUBE, there are 26 x 26 x 26 cubes in the entire structure. This represents the 26 alphabet letters and their combinations. The characters wake up in the vast structure of CUBE, just as humans wake up to a world of language, symbols, and meanings attached to the symbols. When humans wake up to the reality (when you begin to have a sense of self and existence) this happens within the scope of language. When we are born we start our lives by recognizing the image of "mother." Then we recognize "self."
CUBE represents the dimension of language. French psycoanalyst Jacques Lacan suggested that the subject is permeated by language. In the movie, Decart's coordinates are mentioned as a key to figure out the position of the cubes. We all know Decart's famous saying: "I think, therefore I exist." The mentioning of Decart may suggest the message that our existance is defined by language by which we think. Conversely, Lacan suggested that thinking and existing are not compatible, because to think means to follow the structure of language into which we were born. Because our own identities are only definable when we are free of the identity of symbols that restrict us, we can never exist as a self with language.
This goes along with the meaning of CUBE. The struggles of the characters are struggles to find their way out of the claws of the world of symbols that define them. And because they cannot exist out of the structures of language, no one manages to exit CUBE through the 27 th room (the unexisting 27 th letter in the English alphabet) except Kazan, the only person free from language. (Perhaps because he does not have the ability to grasp language as the others do)
The first person to be killed (the person who never meets any others, wanders into another room and is meshed into cubes) possibly represents a priest. The absence of the representation of any spiritual leaders among the six people who manage to gather and the overall appearance of the meshed man suggests that he is a priest, possibly Christian or Catholic. The fact that he is the first to be killed suggests that he is the first victim of language and that he is forever bound by it, never doubting its existance or authenticity. This is only possible because Christianity is bound by language, depending on written and spoken sermons to convey important messages.
In CUBE, different cubes move about each other. This represents different symbols leading to other symbols and other meanings. Some people wander from one symbol to the next. Some are killed during their effort while some manage to return to their original position. From when we were born we had not needed to follow symbols and learn language because our existance lies eleswhere. In CUBE, when Leaven, Worth, and Kazan finally return to the cube they started on, Worth loses the will to escape. This symbolizes his fright of leaving the structure of language that defines his identity and existance. Or may be he just realized that the world out there is just as same, regulated by certain structures that he cannot escape from even at death.
The final scenes in which Quentin stakes Leaven and Worth symbolizes the symbol "S" perforated by a "/" which represents Lacan's theory that the subject is permeated by language. The 27 th room, like the 27 th letter in the alphabet that does not exist, is even harder to escape, save Kazan who I doubt knew how many letters the alphabet has.
I really like this movie and the deep meaning that lies behind it. I think that the meaning may differ from my guess, but still, this is the way I interpreted the film. This is only a subjective analysis, and I wanted to share this with other people. I haven't looked, so I don't know if other people think the same way or not.
Movie Review: One of the best thrillers ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, so last year, I went to the video store to rent a movie to kill some time. So when I went to the Staff Recomendations shelf, I grabbed this one off the shelf. As I went to the registration, the guy said 'it's an awesome movie'. So as I popped open the DVD player, I watched the trailer before seeing the movie. 4 nights later, I decided to watch this on the PC with head-phones. I was glad I watchd this. Cube is one of the best movies ever made with a great story, awesome suspence, nice acting, good characters and some great gory scenes. But mostly, this is more story and suspence than gore. Now a lot of movies ripped off the begining scene and the sets, including the story. We have The Cell, Resident Evil, AVP and House of 9.
The start of Saw referenced the scene where the characters woke up in the Cube, with no idea how the hell they got there.
Now a lot of people say the acting was above average. I though the acting was ok. Andrew Miller (Kazan) did a great job, David Hewllit (Worth) was awesome and the others were fine too.
The suspence was great. It was so dark and freaky. You hear the other rooms going to the other side when you're all alone and thats what makes it scary.
The story has this 'scratch your head' moments and you want to know whats going on. The building of the Cube is the real mystery; who's using it and why use it.
Vincenzo Natali did a fantastic job here. I love his sets and atmosphere for this movie because it keeps you guessing, it keeps you on the edge of you seat and most of all, it proves that he is a very good filmmaker. I also think he made a great choice of hiring composer Mark Korven. He is an excellent composer. He's soundtrack of the movie makes me wanna get the soundtrack myself. So did I have a good time watching this? YES, because it was different from the other 1997 movies.
Overall, this movie is awesome. If you haven't seen this movie, nows your chance. Get to your nearest video store and grab this off the shelf.
Acting: 8/10
David Hewllit (Worth) had an awesome character here. He shows us how good and proving he really is. Nicole de Boer (Leaven) did have some good parts. She does this teenage thing really well. Andrew Miller (Kazan) made me love his character. It feels so real.
Gore: 9/10
The start scene was one of the most original thing I've seen in the 90's. A guy gets cut into cubes, acid burns some guy's face off, an impalment, some blood and a severed leg (if you have wide-screen, you know what I'm talking about)
T&A: 0/10
None, but who needs it anyway?
Directing: 10/10
Vincenzo Natali has created one of the most atospheric moods of the 90's. Another winner.
Bottom Line: Sci Fi and Horror fans should check out this excellent and awesome film. It is so good I kept watching it a dozen times. If only it was aviallable to buy in stores.
Followed by 2 sequels, the extremely dissapointing Cube 2: Hypercube and the awesome Cube Zero.
Movie Review: It's not about where you are, it's why you're there...
Summary: 5 Stars
Ah, but the above question has no correct answer as most good questions in this life don't. The Cube offers the situation with all its detail and intrigue, it offers the questions, the dillemas, the pondering and the eerie suspicions.But its real thrill is that it offers no answers. The answers are all up to you to come with (if you wish), but even if you do you'll never be confirmed plus you'll find that mostly everyone else might disagree with you.
The five humans that (basically) wake up to find out they've been transported unknowingly to a strange and evil-feeling mechanic environment (the "cube") do what anyone would try to do:
they try to come out. To escape.
But as they realise that the cube is not only a massively compartmentalised prison but also one laced with lethal traps mostly everywhere they decide to put their brains a little bit more to use. But this doesnt seem to help much either. Because figuring out how to come out of the cube while simoultaneously not dying in the process is difficult and offsetting enough.
But the real torturing part for the protagonists is not all that. It's the questions themselves. If you know why you're in a prison, what the purpose of that prison is, who's set it up and what the overall scheme is, you might go about your efforts with a more collected mind.
Yes, but you see, the prisoners of the cube know nothing.Not only the know zilch about the cube but also nothing about each other, and, as they eventually are forced to admit, not much about themselves either.
The Cube is undoubtedly one of the best sci-fi films of all time. Some have criticized the acting level in it but in my opinion it is the acting that actually makes it all the more convincing. The fact that none of these actors is a "name" is an added plus. It emphasizes that this could be you, or, that indeed this might you at this very moment. The fact that you feel sure you "know" where you are and what you're doing there is the same thing these people thought too. Usually all it takes is a more careful look and the Cube starts appearing in all types of shapes and forms all around you. Spooky? Nah, reality isnt spooky, it's what's beyond it that is.
Filmed on a somewhat low budget but with brilliantly fitting and believable settings as well as pretty good effects for the money available this movie has "classic" written all over it.
Besides, even if the technical part wasn't (or isn't) totally up to par this would hardly take anything away from this masterpiece. It's not about how flashy the cube is or how "cool" the victims inside it are, is it? Nobody with enough suspicion in him cares about that. It's, as i said, the questions that matter.
Go on and discover those questions too if you've somehow managed not to ask yourself about them till now. And good luck coming up with anything close to an answer...
Movie Review: Cubic, cubist, cuban, who knows in this cubicle?
Summary: 5 Stars
Vincenzo Natali is the worthy descendant of Cronenberg. He invents a model of our psyche in which we are, everyone of us, locked up in a cube that is the universe of our consciousness. We are thus psychotic since the outside world does not exist. And yet the master of this world has set six windows, one on each side, all around us. We can open them, one at a time, and get out into another cube that has to be the psyche of someone else. But this trip is very dangerous. There might be a trap in that other cube, a trap set by the other or by the supermaster of the universe. We may be killed and die instantly. Hence we enjoy and find a sweet and soft refuge in our own psychosis. But sooner or later someone will come into our cube or we will get into another cube where we will find someone else. The drama of meeting with others will start as a competition to find a way out if there is one. But we will discover very fast that all the cubes of all the individuals of the world are all connected within an even bigger cube but that the various cubes are constantly moving. And yet there is a way out and we must find it. We are little by little becoming schizophrenic. And the elimination of the others becomes the objective that erases the possible escape from this world that we may have caressed for a while. Terminate the others, and fast please. To escape this world we need two qualities. First to be able to mentally and spiritually feel, sense and grasp the wider scope and scheme that is behind this cube, these cubes, and we then can see the red thread that is going to lead us to the exit. And we need to be attached to absolutely no one, or even to get rid of all those who could become attached to you or to whom you may get attached. These two qualities are autistic characteristics, but it is generally considered in our society as a disease if not some retardation. Thence we shrink in front of the others and we go back to our cocoonic psychosis that is more comfortable than this schizophrenia. Who controls this world ? Is it God ? But then what about divine love ? Is it the most pathetic human invention ever put forward, not to speak of a pure folly that we have spread among human animals like a retrovirus that turned these animals into self-declared human beings ? Please wait for the end and step out of this cubic film to recapture some sanity.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Movie Review: Relentless gripping and weirdly compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
Six people wake up one day and find themselves trapped in a labyrinth of cubical rooms equipped with deadly traps. They discover that each one of them possesses a skill that will enable them to overcome the dangers of this weird maze. Yes, it sounds cheesy, and yes it's teeming with clichés. The opening scenes of the film don't exactly do a good job allaying fears that this movie will seriously suck, with some rotten dialogue and overwrought acting (the latter may be attributable to the fact that we are not familiar with these actors and therefore less forgiving in regards to their shortcomings). However, the premise of the movie alone should be enough to hook you and give you the patience to stick with it. If you do, you'll be happy after the film's 90 minute length has passed.
The movie quickly goes through a weird change, with interpersonal character reactions becoming more realistic, dialogue becoming more believable, and the tension increasing considerably. As the characters navigate the deadly construction, tension mounts as everyone's true nature is revealed. (Naturally, a situation like this will bring out the best -- and worst -- in anybody). The emphatic acting succeeds in garnering the viewer's utmost interest, almost as if he is the seventh member of the imprisoned party. When a trap is avoided, one feels a profound sense of gladness and relief. When the characters come to a point of desperation, the viewer naturally responds with a similar sense of despondency. At times the plot seems predictable, but there are enough unexpected twists to keep one guessing. Emotionally charged moments of character interaction match the breathless intensity of the trap scenes, which is very impressive.
The story line isn't too concerned with how the characters got there, or why. This is a tasteful decision, as I think too many explanations would have diluted the sense of intensity and the striking drama. Technically, the movie is also very well done. The set design is imposingly impressive in an almost creepy manner, with camera angles providing a good sense of claustrophobia.
I've heard several very negative reviews for this movie, and I have to wonder weather or not we watched the same film. Either way, this movie is a masterpiece of suspense and character interaction.