Sometimes Freaky, Sometimes Gruesome, Frequently Amateurish

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2001)

Cube, a Canadian film directed by Vincenzo Natali is generally a very well crafted science-fiction tale that's one part Asimov and one part Beckett.

The science fiction angle, focusing on a handful of people trapped in a mysterious perfect cube, is marvelously constructed. Even though it's obvious that the entire movie was shot in a single set, Natali, cinematographer Derek Rogers, editor John Sanders, and production designer Jasna Stefanovic do an excellent job to simulate a massive, geometrically precise prison.
The philosophical angle, though, in which the "prisoners" represent a tiny cross-section of society and each has secrets and special knowledge is a total crock. Natali and his co-writers have lead ears for dialogue and a totally false sense of existential social commentary. They aren't helped by a cast that feels only a step up from student films (which, to some extent, this is, I guess). The characters are collectively annoying and the individual performances do nothing to make the characters any more complex.

There's a abusive cop, a paranoid doctor, an office worker, a math student, and a caricature of an autistic man (and anybody who's ever seen a cinematic representation of autism will be able to guess what his special skill is). They're in a 14-by-14 cube with 6 doors. One door leads to a safe room, the others to torture and death. They have no food and no water and they don't know each other, so wouldn't you know that tensions would run high.
At its best, Natali produces a masterful amount of suspense. The booby-trapped rooms are wonderfully devised to produce disgusting results. And since the characters don't know if sound, body heat, or their mere presence will be enough to set off the traps, there's much fun to be had with the concept. The film's best sequence involves a sound sensitive room where the slightest noise produces a wall of spikes. The production team uses colored lights, askew camera angles, and tricky editing to create the contrast between rooms.
But the film really has nowhere to go. The ending is a letdown largely because Natali left himself nowhere to go. Since you don't care about the characters, their fates are irrelevant and since the purpose, location, and meaning of the Cube are intentionally ambiguous, any resolution would really feel like a cheat.
Cube has been compared fairly frequently to Pi, as mathematical thrillers. Like Cube's philosophy, though, the mathematics aren't as smart as the filmmakers seem to think. There's no intellectual process because only two characters have any mathematical knowledge, so their discoveries aren't organic, they're of the "Oh. Why didn't I think of that two reels ago" variety. Unlike Pi, there's no real conceptual mystery to unravel and the various solutions are just a little too convenient.
Because of Cube's limited resources and the levels on which it does succeed, I'm going to give it a 6/10. I admired the mechanical artistry, but wished the movie had more depth.