Think outside the box

Rating: 6/10 (1 August 2007)

I remembering hearing about "Cube" when it was released, but for ten years I hadn't gone out of way to see it. Well, I recently did and I can't say I didn't get what I expected. However, I didn't get anymore than that, which is a disappointment. "Cube" has an interesting concept, but it's little more than a gimmick. A half dozen people are trapped in a cube, but why are they there? What is the cube's purpose? These questions aren't exactly answered.
Lest you think it's an existentialist analysis of humanity, a few body-shredding traps make their appearance throughout the movie. This does make for a nice, tense, atmosphere and some good scenes, especially when the characters must get through a room where a trap is sprung by the slightest of sounds.
What I wanted was more out of the characters. I wanted them to be more than stereotypes. There's the bookish math whiz, the autistic savant, the resigned office worker, the outraged liberal, and the fascist cop. We are led to believe, due to the math geniuses have a key role, that all the characters were put in the cube with some purpose, but no other character uses his or her specialty to further the plot, so, I'm wondering, why give everyone polar opposite personalities and jobs if nothing is going to come of them? I thought the best characters were that of the cop, Quentin, and the prison escape, Rennes, though Quentin later becomes a typical movie villain and Rennes is on screen for only a brief time.
I appreciated it's concept and it's execution, as the production design was so simple I could believe it (only one set was used). But its writing left something to be desired, and I wanted more personality from the characters. I realize this wasn't supposed to be a classic of cinema, but I do expect some deviation from tired formulas.