One of the best films I've seen in a long, long time.

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2004)

Seven different people, each from a very different walk of life, awaken to find themselves inside a giant cube with thousands of possible rooms. Each has a skill that becomes clear when they must band together to get out: a cop, a math wiz, a building designer, a doctor, an escape master, and a disabled man. Each plays a part in their thrilling quest to find answers as to why they've been imprisoned.I rented this having heard good things but not knowing what to expect and it turned out to be one of the most original and intelligent film I've seen in a long time. Vincenzo Natali (Remember this name, it'll be big one day!)does a fantastic job with the atmosphere, suspense and tension. I kept guessing (Wrong, naturally) what great new plot twist would be introduced into the story. The cast of character actors help the story greatly. Most people who don't like "Cube" blame the actors; I disagree. I thought the cast did a great job, especially David Hewlett, Andrew Miller and Wayne Robson. The characters were great and well-rounded enough to be real people, not the product of a writer's imagination. While most sci-fi films now-a-days try to wow you with unconvincing computer-generated special effects, "Cube" relies on thought-provoking dialouge and characters. That's not to say that the effects in the film aren't good (In fact, for a film made for so little money, many of them were quite excellent.), but there not "In-your-face" and meld into the story perfectly. Mark Korven's score was excellent. It's atmospheric, void of melody, but it's extremely effective and haunting. Why isn't the score available commercially? I want it!!!
The ending was PERFECT. Sure, it leaves you with an intense "What? That's it?" feeling, but that's whats so great about it, the makers avoided the urge to tell us every detail and leave most of it up to our imagination.
"Cube" is a brilliant piece of low-budget film-making. It's haunting, intelligent, well-made. If you've seen "Cube", I recommend you read the books "House of stairs" by William Sealtor and "House of doors" by Brian Lumley, both have remarkable similarities to this film. 10/10.
ABOUT THE DVD: This DVD review is based on the old (And apparently now defunct) Trimark DVD, not the more recent Lion's gate signature DVD. I may right a review of that DVD at a later point in time. The picture in "Cube" is presented in a decent widescreen format. I noticed several minor problems while watching the film, including softness (This is especially noticeable during the scenes in the red cubes),edge enhancement,pressing artifacts and bland flesh tones. Otherwise, this ain't a bad picture,with bright colors and minimal grain. The ultra-stereo sound is great.Surround sound effects are well-used, plentiful and effective, with clear and crisp dialouge. There are some great extras on the disc, including a commentary with star Hewlett, director Natali and co-writer Andre Bijelic. This is a fun, enjoyable and informative track. The three talk about how they conceptualized the film and behind-the-scenes stories, among other things. Next up are three deleted scenes, and even though there shown in there "Rough-cut" form, there still pretty interesting. Natali provides an optional commentary for these scenes. Also included here are story boards (Some of which offer a scene comparison), effects art-work, production design sketches, a theatrical trailer and french and Spanish (But strangely no available English) subtitles. My rating for the DVD: 8.5/10.