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Directed by: Vincenzo Natali Starring: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett I've considered renting this film off and on since it first appeared on the video store's racks — the intriguing premise, coupled with some positive word of mouth, made me wonder if this was a direct-to-video sleeper like "Freeway." But no, there's a reason it went directly to video. The thing is shot like a low-budget TV movie, complete with a weird camera-shaking effect to simulate seismic disruption, and the dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard. That's too bad, because few movies are metaphors for existentialist principles, and this film starts out as one, smart and bleak. These elements are present for the remainder of the film, and those are the high points; the film reaches its golden peak about 2/3 of the way through when characters start debating the nature of the machine. Another reviewer compared it to Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit," and the similarity is definitely there. Considering the existential angst is combined with the number puzzles, there's a definite statement lurking somewhere beneath the reprehensible acting and the absolutely laughable dialogue. Whenever a character screamed something for dramatic effect, all I could do was burst into hearty guffaws. Yes, the dialogue was that bad. And the number puzzles aren't consistent. At first, booby-trapped cubes are marked by a nine-digit serial number that contains a prime number within its set, but that fails and no explanation is never provided. By the time the end has come and the characters are searching for prime factorials of the serial number, it seems like the original premise had been completely forgotten. If the cube were evolving, which would've made for a cool plot twist and it's something I hope either "Cube 2: Hypercube" or the next sequel that's bound to come out delves into, it would've been acceptable, but as it is the prime number game seems like the vestigial remainder of a few rewrites. The result is a film I want to love but can't. It has glorious ups and disastrous downs, and somehow one gets the feeling that the writers should've gone for a more steady, streamlined approach, one in which characters didn't do explicable things and one in which the puzzles remained consistent or were freed by the concept of an evolving cube. RATING: 2.5 PROS: Interesting set-up, one of only a few movies about mathematical puzzles CONS: Bad dialogue, worse acting, internal logic is a little shaky ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ Keanu Grieves fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jun 14, 2004 |
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Jun 14, 2004 22:44
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:20 |
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quote:Frontalot came out of the closet to say: Don't see Cube 2. Trust me. I enjoyed it. I'm glad the retard survives. If only the second hadn't been such a travesty of a mind-gently caress.
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Jun 15, 2004 05:23
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I enjoyed the second film, if only because it was steeped in theoretical science. Where the first movie focused on character development, the second movie focused on conspiracies and theoretical constructs. Everyone seems to have wanted Cube 2 to just be a retread of the first movie, which would have been terribly boring. They had to do something different, and so they took it in a new direction. It still could have been better, but the movie really motivated me to go out and learn just what the heck a Tesseract is. I think it's major fault was the conspiracy angle. Not only did it seem a bit hokey in the manner that they executed it, but I would prefer not knowing who made the Cube or why. But then, it would have made the overall plot impossible to pull off without that. And, to be somewhat on topic: Cube is an excellent study on human social behavior; What we do when trapped in an environment where there are no laws and survival is paramount. How, even when they're forced to work together, they'll still gently caress everyone else over to try and save themselves.
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Jun 15, 2004 05:30
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Horror. Thriller. Even Independent is a better genre classification for Cube than sci-fi. Oh well. The 'writers' were a guy working as a storyboard artist at Nelvana (cartoon) Studios, and his art college buddy. The 'budget' was $0 ( + a couple of government grants). It was shot in a studio when no one else had the space booked, in about 2 weeks. The entire set consists of one cube, and a few feet of space around it; just enough room to manoeuvre a hand-held camera around. The discipline and smarts to be able to conceptualize and make a compelling movie within one 14' x 14' space amazes me. All the characters were named for prisons, and had characteristics of the particular prison. This is THE best no-budget, made-in-Toronto movie I've ever seen. There's a lot of discussion possibilities, from technical to plot points...was the Cube man-made, self-evolved, or was it being run by aliens as a test? Did these aliens deliberately change conditions as the subjects advanced through it? Bonus points because I've met Nichole deBoer and she has big beautiful eyes. A for effort. 4 for rating.
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Jun 15, 2004 15:49
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Briefly: Excellent dialogue, memorable plot, and ultra-dynamic characters. Never a dull moment. Unfortunately, the ending was disappointing, but I've forgotten that with time. 4/5 at the time, 4.5/5 now.
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Jun 18, 2004 06:10
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A little rough around the edges but one of the more enjoyable and creative independent films I've seen in a while. The puzzle-solving aspect of the storyline was interesting and not the sort of thing you usually see given a lot of screen time or explanation. But there seemed to be some inconsistencies both in the puzzles themselves and how the characters went about solving them (e.g. that it wasn't until 2/3 into the movie that it occured to the math prodigy that the numbers between rooms might be cartesian coordinates). The acting and dialogue are pretty awkward at times, but despite this, the character interaction is one of the best things about the movie -- watching the way the characters interact and react to each other, sometimes in unexpected ways. The mystery/conspiracy about the origins of the cube was handled pretty well -- the viewer is given enough explanation to be satisfyingly thought-provoking, and to give the movie an interesting existential texture (and a hint of black comedy), without destroying the sense of mystery. Voted 3.5, but it gets a big thumbs up for originality and ingenuity in filmmaking.
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Jul 5, 2004 14:25
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One of the better sci-fi films to come out in recent years, Cube is unique and manages to stay away from Hollywood's tendency to turn everything sci-fi into a watered-down action flick. This idea could've played well as a novel as well, which is what really hooked me -- a sci-fi movie that's more than just a war with aliens. The acting is passable and despite its limited environment, the story plays out very well. A creative and entertaining movie that could never get made outside the independent realm. edit: I think it should be classified as Sci-fi, solely because all the likely explanations you deal with during the movie are centered in science fiction. Though the movie might mostly contain personal drama and a thriller/mystery element, it all takes place within what can be assumed to be a sci-fi universe. 4.5 PS: Cube 2 sucks. Bloated Pussy fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Jul 5, 2004 |
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Jul 5, 2004 20:16
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(Copied from my Cube 2 review) The first Cube was excellent. It appealed to horror fans, math and science nerds, conspiracy theorists, and even some mystery buffs equally, was very smart, very full of tension, and very realistic in its own way. It was also unpredictable and had a fantastic ending. Despite its low budget, it was easily the best sci fi flick of the year when it came out. 4.5/5
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Jul 6, 2004 03:08
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:20 |
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While the premise of this movie is intriguing, the dialogue and delivery of the actors is so laughably bad that the viewer must make a conscious effort to ignore these shortcomings. Otherwise, you will spend the entire movie doubled over in laughter. Altogether, though, the movie is very interesting. Just try not to get too bogged down in the dialogue. I personally enjoy this movie quite a bit, but I saw it with some friends recently. They were completely unable to get past the horrible acting (Leaven's overdone valley girl lines, Holloway's out-of-nowhere yelling, quentin's overly dramatic screaming. Worth is cool though). Give it a chance, you might like it.
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Jul 19, 2004 18:37
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