"There is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan. Big brother is not watching you."

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2001)

SPOILERS - "Cube" is a very interesting film, once you get past the first 30 minutes, but I don't consider it a very good film. We never do find out how this assortment of characters get into the cube in the first place. However, by "chance" we have a young lady who is a math and geometry genius, man who is an idiot savant and able to factor very large numbers just by looking at them, and the designer of the outer shell of the cube. And those talents, in concert, are the key to finding a way out of the cube. If, as the designer says, it is a "headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan", then the coincidence would be too great to be credible. This film doesn't purport to be a fantasy, like "Matrix" or "Pleasantville", so we are left to assume it attempts to represent a possible reality. It doesn't work.
Still, there are some moments of tension, as they try to survive and travel from cube to cube, hoping to find a way out. My favorite was when they found the blue room with traps activated by sound. So everything became silent as each in turn worked his or her way to the opposite door. I was even afraid to make a noise. The key, of course, comes when they figure out the the 17,576 cubes (26 on each edge) are moving relative to each other, and they get into the only one which will have a "bridge to the outside." Only the idiot savant escapes, as the others are either killed or otherwise incapacitated.
I think the film ultimately fails on two levels. First, we aren't able to have empathy for any of the characters. Second, although the premise is interesting, the writer and director had no meaningful way to pull everything into any kind of satisfying conclusion. Coming up with an idea is easy, all of us can do that, but to wrap up the story is a whole different complexity and, unfortunately, far too few professional filmmakers are up to the task. About "4" or "5" is the right IMDb rating for this film.