Review of Cube (1998) by Ivan D — 31 Jan 2009

A very original science fiction film, with a very ambiguous and strange premise. A group of strangers are put into an unknown cube by an unknown captor, sounds like just another horror film, right? but as the film unravels itself, it became an unpredictable film that is both thrilling and mind-stimulating.

Even though the performances wasn't good, the character development that director Vincenzo Natali implied to the characters, made out on what was lacking in acting. The visuals was very frightening, not because of the incoming violence, but because of the almost unbearable tension that are applied to the scenes.

The ending left me in great awe, because in films with the same plot and atmosphere, good guys survives, but the ending carved a more unexplainable, and prophetic ending in the same fashion to that of Kubrick's 2001.

"Cube" have great flaws, particularly the performances, but the originality of the story and the sheer ambiguity will definitely make it hard to take your eyes of the film until the end. Though some consider the "cube" structure itself to be an allegory of the holy bible's purgatory or limbo, it is more easy to the mind to view it as an examination of man's humanity to his fellow man, and what will humans do in time of desperation, much like about Darwinian principles rather than biblical proportions.