Review of Cube (1998) by Dillinger P — 26 Oct 2015

The problem with Cube doesnt rest solely on its dated CGI work or its bland batch of unlikable characters, instead its main fault is the script not being anywhere near as gripping as it should be. A rather dated formula by today's standards, Cube's premise is actually vaguely quirky when put in the context of the time it was made, the late 90's.

A group of random strangers awake in a very gorgeously constructed, cube structured maze, confused and unable to work efficiently the group rush ahead only to find that the road ahead is littered with traps and double crosses.

As mentioned the film is actually rather stunning to look at, most of the time, the set design is actually very striking, intricate and boasts a really potent colour palette. The cinematography is "edgy" enough to throw in some peculiar camera angles and trickery and all round, apart from its dated CGI, most of the film still looks gorgeous by today's standards, you feel lost, claustrophobic and pretty overwhelmed by the location in general and by the ever increasing situations the group soon find themselves in, a later moment in the film actually bolsters a highly tense sequence where one of the rooms is rigged with a sound sensor and can make for pretty gripping stuff.

This all sounds promising but Cube fails at the fundamentals, it is close to impossible to either not burst out laughing or grow bored by its predictability. The characters are extremely bland and extremely stereotypical, a cop, a doctor, an escape artist, a mathematician.

.. Just having the most predictable inclusions destroys any form of ambiguity the film may have achieved in its opening minutes, it doesnt help that not only is no one in the group likable but have the most unbelievable dialogue ever committed to cinema, its seriously cringe worthy, with moments of sheer disbelief when characters open their mouths.

It's all well and good for a film to look pretty and have an unique angle but when your filling it up with utter nonsense from start to finish, whats the point? Cube's saving grace is its age, meaning it may hold some form of nostalgic or lazy Saturday night viewing value, but other than that its an extremely pretty, bland movie.