Cube (1997)

Directed by: Vincenzo Natali | 91 minutes | drama, fantasy, science fiction, horror, thriller | Actors: Nicole De Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings, Wayne Robson, Maurice Dean Wint

In the beginning of ‘Cube’ we see a man waking up in a square room. This room has six doors. These doors form the entrance to the next “room”. The man goes through a door to another room and is killed there. Then we see six people awaken in different square rooms. The rooms have different colors of light. They go to investigate. It is not clear to them why they are there and how they got there. Eventually they meet in one room. Not all rooms appear to be safe. A death trap has been built in some rooms. This means that they must always find out which room is safe and which is not.

The characters of the main characters are chosen in such a way that they each have a specialty. We have a police officer, a mathematician, a social worker, a student, a mentally handicapped person and an ex-convict. They must work together to solve the cube puzzle. Naturally, tensions run high when the group faces setbacks.

It is an original story written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, who filmed the low budget. During filming, only one cube was used, where everything takes place. He has either exposed the cube differently or added attributes to the cube so that it seems that you are always dealing with a different cube.

The film starts off slow, but as the film progresses, it picks up speed. Unfortunately, the script is killed by mediocre acting by almost all unknown actors. Except for the interpretation of the mathematician by Nicole de Boer, the characters are portrayed quite one-dimensionally. The cube itself already has more depth. Incidentally, the observant viewer will quickly realize that the names of the main characters are all names of prisons. The original script certainly deserves attention. The way it was filmed is also commendable. We have to take the level of the acting for granted, because viewed across the board it is a fine film.