A highly original science fiction film.

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2004)

When I first read about Cube in the Daily Mirror, the idea of the film intrigued me right from the offset. 7 strangers wake to find themselves in an enormous maze shaped like a giant cube. Some rooms are safe. Others are booby trapped. The methods of execution are particularly grisly (look what happens to Alderson).
Considering this is a low budget film, not surprisingly the actors are a group of unknowns. When I saw it for the first time, the only person I recognised was Nicole de Boer (Leaven). She's best known as Ezri Dax in Deep Space Nine, and Sarah Bannerman in The Dead Zone.
As the years went by, I gradually began to see some of the other actors in films too. The only other person I have seen in frequent films and TV series is Maurice Dean Wint (Quentin).
The film begins inside the Cube, where one of the people, Alderson, wakes up. He is dressed in some overalls and has his name written on them. (Whoever put him here must know his name). He is only in the film for about three minutes, because as I mentioned before, he dies a very nasty death at the hands of one of the Cube's booby traps. I won't say how he dies though, because it has to be experienced. One of the best openings I have ever seen in a film.
We switch then to the other people in the Cube. I will write their name, and a short description for them:
Leaven: A student maths whiz, who comes in very handy when it comes to cracking the numbers in the Cube. (I will describe the numbers later).
Worth: An architect who had something to do with the construction of the Cube.
Holloway: A doctor who seems to be an "expert" on conspiracy theories (she is also paranoid and rather irritating at times).
Quentin: A cop with a hot temper who is more of a threat then the Cube itself.
Kazan: A man who is mentally handicapped, but is the key to their escape (I won't describe completely what his special talent is). His screaming when he is forced to do something he doesn't want to is annoying as well.
Rennes: An escape artist who gives good advice about how to survive in the Cube.
Who put these people here and why is a mystery. The possible suspects are endless. It could be anyone from the Government to aliens. None of them have any idea how they got there. As they try to get to grips with their situation, the tension begins to build slowly. The dimensions of the Cube, the seemingly endless rooms, not knowing who is an ally or enemy. It all begins to take its toll.
There is a real claustrophobic feel, because each room is shaped like a cube too. Whoever designed the Cube (and I mean the filmmakers) was a genius. A truly three dimensional experience that thrusts our heroes into one potentially perilous situation after another. There are numbers too that have something to do with prime numbers, which are an important clue. My maths skills are abominable so I would never survive in the Cube.
Power struggles. Suspicion on every side. This would unhinge anyone's mind if they were placed in the same environment. Although it has a low budget, the director, Vincenzo Natali made the wise move of introducing psychological tension into the mix. It doesn't just have to be blood and guts that frighten a viewer, but the genuine paranoia and mental anguish the characters are feeling. Look what happens to Quentin, and you will see how completely over the edge he goes.
The acting and dialogue is a little more uneven. Quentin overacts, and Holloway is annoying when she is going on about the world being against them. Worth is an interesting man, who has nothing to live for outside the Cube, so wouldn't care anyway if they made it out alive. These are the setups for the tension and paranoia that will gradually turn them all against each other. Some of the clunky dialogue comes from speeches about how these people don't matter in the mainstream of things.
Personally, I think the purpose of the Cube is an experiment, to see how these unimportant people will react to being placed in a nightmarish situation. The results are not encouraging. But still, this is a highly compelling film, and more unique then most sci-fi you see nowadays. I was on the edge of my seat to see if they would escape, but a lunatic like Quentin in their midst, and the dimensions of the Cube hinder their efforts at every turn.
The words of wisdom from Rennes have stuck with me concerning survival (ironically just before his death) that I will quote them:
"No more talking. No more guessing. Don't even think about anything that's not sitting right in front of you. That's the real challenge. You've got to save yourselves from yourselves."
That certainly applies to Quentin. The ending is a bit of an anticlimax, and I felt disappointed and still intrigued at the same time. It compelled me to ask questions about the Cube for days afterwards.
The best sci-fi film since Alien.