Cube
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Movie Reviews of Cube
Movie Review: Great Low-Budget Sci-Fi Flick
Summary: 5 Stars
A seemingly random selection of an undetermined number of people awaken in a massive cubical death machine consisting of thousands of cube-shaped rooms that are constantly shifting positions - kind of like a giant rubix cube. Some of these rooms have deadly booby traps. This is the premise of Cube, one of the most original and exciting science fiction movies of recent years.
The film succeeds on many levels. The premise is intriguing and facilitates an absolutely brilliant, and cheap, set deisign. All the rooms are the same except for color. This creates a stagnation that is generally avoided, but works beautifully here to reenforce the intended feeling of frantic claustrophobia.
Despite its harsh and inhuman setting, or perhaps because of it, Cube exudes a vital humanism that is, at times, even a little overbearing. The small sample of people become a microcosm of society. Because their interactions are so immediate and their circumststance so dire, the characters are allowed to explore practically every aspect of social interaction in society. There's the white liberal doctor, the young college student, the invalid, the criminal, the cynical worker bee, and the male authority figure - a cop with serious insecurities and tendencies towards violence. Ultimately, the film makes an argument for cooperation and understanding - We're all in the same boat, let's help each other - that kind of thing. Call it Christianity or Communism, I like it either way.
This hopefulness for humanity is contrasted with the complete pointlessness of the situation. The question "why" is asked constantly, and it is never answered, giving Cube an existential bent. More particularly, Cube is the epitome of kafkaesque. It makes an obvious statement about the banality of endless beaurocracy that can often support Fascism. However blatantly, Cube makes a powerful statement about blind acceptance of illogical constructs.
There are a couple of flaws worth pointing out. There are times that the dialogue gets clumsy and some of the performances are distracting. But overall, Cube is well-written, thoughtful and technically astounding (set, light, photography, editing, direction, etc..)
Movie Review: Underated fascinating movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Cube is a movie containing actors that I never heard of and a very original plot. This movie was a tough one to make probably because a good amount of people would disslike it. Why? Because it takes your brain to have an on switch to comprehend what's going on. The ending at first hade me thinking: what the heck? Until I thought about it, and it made sense. This seemingly weird ending ended out being one of the most original and smart endings that I've ever seen.
The acting for the movie is fair with 1 or 2 good performances and the rest pretty average.
The movie has strangers waking up in a mysterious location..a cube. They learn to know each other and try to find out why they are there. There are doors everywhere and as they travel it, they decide that they all have an important function to escaping. Standing in their path are booby traps that are all activated by different senses. Some of the deaths are incredibly gruesome (check out the opening scene) but pretty fascinating.
The movie's weird, I'll tell you that, and might be a puzzle for some people. Some might be dissapointed by the ending that doesn't really solve some mind blocks. But, that didn't matter to me anymore..on the other hand, what mattered was human nature and showing all of these strangers' nature. The movie is like a study..throw some strangers in a mysterious location and see what they'll do. The result isn't pretty. It shows how desperate humans are and how far some will go to achieve what they want. And that's really what made me enjoy this movie..this study.
In the end, I was trully fascinated as the real human nature, the most unlikely person comes out. This shows a fascinating idea that made me in awe. It's not about what people are on the outside but what they are on the inside. And these "heroes" turn out to be cowards...awful cowards.
Cube can't be classed in a specific section because it incorporates science fiction and a study of human nature. It definitely isn't action and calling it horror or action is plain stupid. This movie is one of the smartest out there and if you're willing to open your mind a little and take some criticism indirectly through a movie, this might be "the one" you should watch.
Movie Review: If you like science-fiction, don't pass up Cube.
Summary: 5 Stars
On the surface, Cube is a most simple and elegant story. Six people trapped in a gigantic cube composed of rooms, some innocious, some others rigged with silent and deadly traps. Why have they been put here ? What is the Cube for ? What must they do to escape ? They don't know. But what they do believe is that by cooperating, armed with only their boots and their wits, they can get out. Little do they know... I am a science-fiction fan, and this may cloud my judgment. Cube has been criticized for its average acting and a cliché script. I don't know : I don't ask too much from actors, and I didn't find the acting to be noticeably negative. I didn't dislike the script either, although there is one character that should have come out far more likeable than he/she does in the movie. Let's just say the death in the middle of the movie really cheered me up. Those who saw the movie will know what I mean. Also, warning for the faint-hearted, Cube is also somewhat of a horror movie. If seeing a head eaten thru by acid is likely to give you nightmares, steer clear of Cube. Although I hate gore, there was not enough of it here to put me off the movie.
Discussing the nature of Cube would give away too much spoilers, so I can't really get into the philosophical substance. Suffice it to say that it is brillant (it is a wonderful indictment of statism and bureaucracy in general), although it doesn't really relate to much else in the movie. But the rest of the movie is very interesting too.
It is interesting to note that, for such an intelligent movie, the director and actors are totally clueless chaps, especially if you watch the little interview in the DVD with Nicole DeBoer, who incidentally was Ezri Dax in Deep Space Nine (I also thought that the policeman sounded like Sisko, but it's probably just my imagination). Perhaps this is a case where luck contributed to art. The director does acknowledge that he likes Tarkovsky (and gives away the plot of Stalker during the commentary, the blithering idiot), and it will be interesting to watch out for the future works of this fellow - Vincenzo Natali.
Movie Review: Great movie for only one room...
Summary: 5 Stars
Not many people could come up with such a great movie only using a single room. Not many people could come up with ANY movie only using a single room. Vincenzo Natali gives us a great view of what can be done with only a handful of unknown actors, a low budget, and one cubic room.Here's how it starts: all the characters wake up in different cubed rooms, which we assume are all part of one giant cube (which is later confirmed). They come together and must figure out how to survive long enough to get out of a seemingly endless maze of room, all colored differently. Did I mention that some rooms are boobytrapped?
Now they have to navigate the rooms, figuring out along the way where they should go and how to avoid the traps. Right when they think they've got it figured out, something pops up that proves them wrong. The group starts to get desperate after a while with no food or water.
The movie plays out like a huge psychological experiment. When the characters are in cool colored rooms such as blue or green, they are calm and don't mind working together. But, when they are in warm colored rooms like red or orange (which seems to happen more often near the end of the movie), they become aggitated and easily annoyed.
Thankfully, the only information the writers give away about the Cube is what we need to know to survive, and all the rest is left for us to ponder. Who made it? How did they make it? Why did they make it? All of these questions are left unanswered.
While the ending angered many people, I thought it was just right. The acting went over well, although Maurice Dean Wint (Quentin) may have been a bit overbearing, and the character, I thought, was a little too quick to anger.
All in all, an excellent movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, as well as have you asking questions when it is done. It is definitely in my top 10. If you like your movies logical and totally wrapped up at the end, however, this won't be for you.
Movie Review: "We are the cube"
Summary: 5 Stars
Just to get it out of the way, I'd like to say I was expecting much from this movie but was worried it would end up falling short of its concept. I was not disappointed: it was executed incredibly well, and remained captivating and unpredictable throughout.What I really want to get into here is an analysis of what the movie meant. Many have speculated, and I'd like to add my ideas. First, it is important to note that, aside from the guy that gets offed in the opening scene, there are six characters in this movie, just as there are six sides to a cube.
All of the characters are vastly different, and can be said to represent the human race. The cube is a microcosm that represents the world. Almost all of the characters have glaring fatal flaws: the cop that's concerned with self-preservation and dominion over others, the amoral engineer, the paranoid doctor, and of course, a criminal.
In addition, it helps to examine their names. Characters like "Leaven" and "Worth" ("Leavenworth") are suggestive of prisons, as is "Quentin." But there is also the doctor, "Holloway" (Hollow).
Interestingly, despite the cube's many dangers, most of the deaths that occur are murders: people killing people rather than the cube killing people. In other words, despite this world's many natural dangers, mankind is its own worst enemy. "We are the cube," indeed. The only character that is innocent and avoids all of the fighting done among the other characters is Kazan, who literally sees things differently from everyone else because of his autism. He is the only one that escapes the cube, just as the only hope we have of avoiding destruction is to adapt a new worldview.
A great film, entertaining, original, and thought-provoking, with a theme that is carried throughout without being weighed down by the narrative.