Premise: 6 strangers wake up in a strange cube with no recollection of how they got there. Each side of the cube has a hatch that leads to another room with six hatches.
It quickly becomes obvious that this movie focuses on character interaction and struggle more than action plot points. Like some of the Saw movies, a bunch of strangers stuck in a perilous situation are bound to clash and fight.
At times the acting falters and the characters try too hard but over all it wasn't distractingly bad. I didn't like any of the characters in this film but I don't think I was supposed to.
David Hewlett of Stargate fame takes a turn as a fatalistic wet blanket. As a Stargate fan I was pleasantly surprised to see him here. Sadly, whatever love I have for the actor does not translate to love for the character he plays. I believe it stems from how different my own personality is from the 'we're all going to die, let's just give up' that he has. He was the only actor I recognized.
When watching this type of film you can't help but imagine what YOU would do in each situation that crops up.
[SLIGHT SPOILER]
Later in the film the gang finds a mentally handicapped man. Me, I would vote to leave him. He would be nothing but dead weight at best, at worst he could harm the group. His actions might not have malice but that hardly matters.
Have you ever heard of Hanlon's Razor? Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Not quite the situation for which that device is meant though.
[LARGER SPOILER]
They come upon a room that has sound activated spikes. The re-TARD, who squeals and mutters to himself the whole time, becomes more than an inconvenience at this point. I wholeheartedly agree with Quentin here: we should to leave him behind lest he endanger us all. Nevertheless, Holloway adamantly defends the man and demands that he be brought along.
And he goes on to almost get Quentin killed. Holloway sees nothing wrong with this and acts as if his angry response after narrowly escaping death is uncalled for. The very picture of those insufferable creatures known as bleeding-hearts.
Am I being too heartless here?
Often times in movies the writers are trying to use two characters to contrast each other, but sometimes this leads to them taking a character to an extreme point, such as you described in overlooking the near death experience. It is an annoying occurrence that once you start to notice you will see over and over in theater, going in both direction. “I am the strong one and I want to kill everything even if you have shown it is actually safe, I still want to kill it” It will start to ruin movies for you, but if you want to really see through the facade then look up Chekhov's gun....
ReplyDeleteHmm, I really do want to check this movie out, better skip the spoiler section though :p
ReplyDeleteahhh no spoilers!!
ReplyDeletesaw this movie a while ago and i like it!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing part of this, and being very confused.
ReplyDeleteThat movie was awesome when it was released, very claustrophobic.
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Heh i remember watching this aggggers ago... from what i remember it was pretty good! :D
ReplyDeleteHm, it sounds like it might be worth a watch, I like these types of movies
ReplyDeleteI saw this a long long time ago. I hardly even remember but it sounds like it might be worth checking out again.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the whole CUBE series . Cube,Hyper Cube & Cube Zero. Cheesy acting but still the idea is a little cool I must admit
ReplyDeleteI always read the spoilers even when I know I don't have to... and the movie seems interesting so I think I'll watch it
ReplyDelete