Interesting concept, poor execution

Rating: 5/10 (15 July 2008)

I came across this title while searching for similar "disturbing" movies.
The word "disturbing" did not come to mind while watching this, the fact that I was more occupied with "should I make another cuppa?" and "should I put another load in the dryer?" is sort of indicative of what I thought of this movie; it was BORING.
The concept is interesting: a bunch of people being locked in a maze, lethal traps etc. How would they cope? Would basic instincts come alive and would the thin layer of civilization yield to survival methods?
In this movie the subjects are hardly touched upon. Acting is pretty bad, especially in the beginning and more importantly, while watching it, the characters leave everything in doubt. Most of them leave me in doubt as to why they are put in the cube. Later on they find out why some of them are put in, these so called explanations however I find hardly satisfying. Some of the character's actions in the movie hardly relate to what they had been doing before they were locked, I found their actions and motives (what motives?) very hard to grasp.
Visual fx were adequate, not very convincing or impressive. How people die and how movies portray it is not related to getting numb to this effect, mind you, it's just that this movie had some gruesome ways of dying in store but they were not portrayed very well. The actual cube, the outer shell, the inner rooms did not really give me the impression of being locked in, being alone and desolate or anything. Poor effort altogether.
In short; feel free to watch it, I suppose it's one way of spending your evening but if you are in for a "disturbing movie" go and see something else. I haven't seen part II or III, in a way I hope they are a continuation of pt 1, but I'm not planning to go and watch 'em.