Review of Cube (1998) by Stuart K — 18 Apr 2010
The debut of Canadian director Vincenzo Natali, who later made Cypher (2002), Nothing (2003) and Splice (2010), who came from the world of Canadian TV animation. It was based on a short film Natali had done the year before called Elevated, and he successful got it made for a meagre $365,000.
And it looks like it was made for alot more, appearances can indeed be deceptive. It focuses on a group of people all trapped in a labyrinth of cubes all connected together, the group consist of maths genius Joan Leaven (Nicole de Boer), doctor Helen Holloway (Nicky Guadagni), short-tempered police officer Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint), architect David Worth (David Hewlett) who knows more than he lets on, and autistic man Kazan (Andrew Miller).
They are all trying to get out of this maze, but they have to be careful, as some of the cubes are booby trapped, meaning instant death for those who step into them, but the only way of knowing how to get from one to the other is a set of numbers between the cubes, which Leaven is able to crack.
It's a brilliant sci-fi film, and it's well shot and it's a brilliant idea. It's tense, suspenseful and the performances are very engaging. Natali should be making more films and be more famous, hopefully he'll crack it with Splice.
But, this has got his career off to a splendid start.
This review of Cube (1998) was written by Stuart K on 18 Apr 2010.
Cube has generally received positive reviews.
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