Review of Cube (1997) by Filipeneto — 06 Apr 2019

Boring, but well done.

I confess I expected more from this film. The script is very simple, typical in low-budget films: a group of people who do not know each other wake up, without noticing the reason, inside a windowless room in the shape of a cube. There are exit hatches in the center of each wall, as well as in the ceiling and floor. None of them know why they got there, where they are or what might happen ... but soon they realize that each room can hide deadly traps, and there is almost no way to find out which rooms are trapped, since they are virtually identical, although they are numbered.

The movie is an attempt to make soft terror effective with few features and a minimal budget. To a large extent, the film does what it promises and gives the public a pleasant tension and a few moments of carnage. Here, however, the greatest danger comes from the tense relationship between characters, as the film plunges into a kind of "cabin syndrome" and relations between all are degrading. In this context, the good construction of all these characters (with a very rich and profound psychology, in a healthy coexistence since none of them is given prominence) is something to highlight and praise in this film. The cast is fairly decent, considering that I did not know anyone involved and everyone seemed to comply with the minimum that was asked of them and not make gross mistakes.

The most unpleasant part of this film is precisely the fact that it is so simple: in fact, nothing happens here. Although the film flows reasonably, it is tasteless and has little to offer. There is no story, and that makes the movie boring.