Cube - 1997
Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Written by André Bijelic & Graeme Mason
Six strangers awake to find themselves trapped inside a gigantic cube with thousands of rooms also shaped like cubes. Each room looks exactly like the last, but only in a different color. Certain rooms are also booby trapped, instantly killing anyone who sets foot inside them. Initially the members of the group work together and try to escape from the cube, but soon hunger sets in and they begin to argue and fight amongst themselves.
Cube is a pretty good film that was made for under $500,000. Each actor is very good in their role, especially the geek chick Leaven (Nicole de Boer) and the cop Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint). The retarded character is mildly annoying, as are most retarded movie characters. There is also a lot of math in the movie, most of which flew completely over my head.
In a production such as this, with such a low budget and essentially using only one set, the script must be God. If there is no quality script, than you have no film. I think that Cube’s script manages to hold out up until the very end, when one character undergoes a very drastic change that I don’t think was adequately explained, and two others make a choice that is completely illogical. But it still worked in conveying the claustrophobic feel of being trapped in a box and in interactions between tired and scared protagonists. This film also definitely has the sort of “what the fuck?” ending that will be the deciding factor of whether you love it or hate it.
So what do we have? A low-budget psychological thriller with lots of math and an ending that makes no sense, with a couple of quality kills thrown in for good measure. Not the type of film for most of the general population, but I think it’s better than much of the crap out there today. At least they were willing to take chances.
A sequel entitled Cube 2: Hypercube was completed, and was released direct to video in April 2003. No one from the original production was involved.