Cubed

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2010)

In the pre-Saw independent days of 1998 (actually, released outside of the USA in 1997) was a wildly original and inventive film called Cube. I saw this many years ago and loved it. However, after rewatching it, I feel it definitely deserves a solid eight out of ten stars.
Why it lost the full 2 stars (I originally gave it) to drop it to four was just two factors: serious overacting at times and the most depressing finale. No, I won't spoil the climax, per se, but you're grasping throughout the movie for an ounce of hope and need something to pick you up. The rug's pulled, so in a sense, you fall instead of rise.
That said, and despite the size of the set the actors are all-but exclusively in, I loved the camera work/cinematography. Unlike Saw with its flashbacks – I think total now 900,000 from the first movie to date (Part VI), this movie shot in the metal rooms had to be a challenge. They did a great job. Also, I love puzzles, and this movie is full of them. Finally, (despite the sequels) I loved not knowing the big picture – I.E. how the characters came here, who built the place. This placed you in more tension like the cast.
Several men and women awake in a puzzle of identical "cubes" or perfect metallic, square rooms, each side (including floor and ceiling) contains a portal to the next, seemingly similar dungeon. But, beware! There are traps abroad and it's these somewhat unrelated and unwilling participants must decipher a way out, room by room. And they must work together to achieve freedom as they start dying off one by one, each in a new and inventively gruesome manner. (I.E. the Saw reference. Saw's writers Leigh Whannell and James Wan must have got a lot of ideas from watching Cube.) As much as the movie contains suspense in spades, I am super glad they decided not to continue the movie past 90 minutes. It's obviously a two set movie (two cubes built side by side) and though they added depth to the characters, they really could only take this so far.
For lovers of suspense, claustrophobic horror, character study, numbers (you'll have to refresh on your math skills before or after) and small, indie films with quality, I would highly recommend this movie.