lopxtc
04-06-2003, 09:45 AM
Okay it was once said;
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me ..."
With that being said I will have to unfortunately take the blame for the two hours of my life that were not well spent this past Saturday night.
Being out of town on work and not one that enjoys going out on the town alone, I decided to channel surf and see what I could find. Coming across the Sci-Fi channel I see an add for the movie "Cube 2: Hypercube", the straight to video release of the sequal to 1997's "Cube". Knowing full well that I walked away from Cube feeling empty, drained of emotion (mostly from trying to show any emotion to the characters and their plight in the movie), and just really disappointed in the movie ... I figured I would give the sequal a chance.
Now for those who havent seen the original "Cube", the movie basically de-evolves down to a 90 minute character study of people trapper in a "prison" made of cubes that have exits on the sides, and top/bottom (six total), and (as they discover eventually) shift position in what can be compared to a rubiks cube of giant purportion. While the movie does provide some nice effects, and does allot to give an impression of a thinking movie (dealing with prime number math) it eventually fails due to a real lack of back story, plot, and character development. In the end you really dont feel for the characters, and are left still trying to figure out what is really going on.
Enter the sequal... I am not sure if "Cube 2" is done by the same people or not, but if it is then I wonder why they didnt come up with something more original character wise. This time around we are presented with more people, trapped within a higher budgeted cube set. Unfortunately most of the characters are just rehashes of the originals. We have a cop like character with a short temper, a disabled person, a strong female lead who butts heads with the male lead and eventually has to flee from him, a person who had a hand in the construction of the cube, and an older female that eventually gets on the nerves of the short tempered cop (which the same eventual outcome). There two characters that dont play into the mix of the origianl, and honestly seem only to be around to give a quick chest shot (Albeit a nice one) to those who rent the DVD.
Onto the story... again they all awake in the cube each with no idea why they are there or what is going on. As in the original we eventually learn that at least some of them have an idea of whats going on, but this time it seems that they are really all tied into this in some way or another. The original cube had a solution, that while difficult to figure out could eventually be done. The mathmatics in the first, made the cube seem more puzzle like then prision like and gave the audience a feeling of that they could help solve the puzzle. This time around we are introduced to the theory of a "hypercube" and how it has the ability to bend time and exist in parallel dimensions. The problem with this is that being a theoretical object, there isnt much for the characters, or the audience, to solve. Since its all theory the directors can do what they want, and change the rules whenever they see fit. This makes the movie all the more difficult to watch as the audience has no feeling of being a part of the movie. The traps, again a major part of the first movie and also involved in the mathmatics of it, are few and far between and provide no real sense of drama. Instead the characters move fast and freely through the majority of the rooms with only the theoretical "traps" to stop them, most of which move so slow and show themselves long before they ever become a threat. In fact two characters die in a way that is never explained; one minute they are alive and enojying themselves (you'll see what I mean), later in the movie they are dead and still in the same position. There is one scene that I assume was done as a homage to the original movie opening trap scene, but aside from that most are dull and, pardon the pun, lifeless.
Eventually the movie comes to a conclusion and one that really did disappoint. The eventual purpose to what is going on is revealed about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and is something that never really happened in the first. Unfortuantely there is a key object to the film that is never introduced till the end, and even then never explained. Once again we are left wondering what happened, and not even left with the self-satisfaction of solving hard math problems. Instead we are left with a clear opening to a third part ... something that should have been easy to guess seeing as how the move is called "Cube" ... if only it had been called "Squared" ...
Aaron
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me ..."
With that being said I will have to unfortunately take the blame for the two hours of my life that were not well spent this past Saturday night.
Being out of town on work and not one that enjoys going out on the town alone, I decided to channel surf and see what I could find. Coming across the Sci-Fi channel I see an add for the movie "Cube 2: Hypercube", the straight to video release of the sequal to 1997's "Cube". Knowing full well that I walked away from Cube feeling empty, drained of emotion (mostly from trying to show any emotion to the characters and their plight in the movie), and just really disappointed in the movie ... I figured I would give the sequal a chance.
Now for those who havent seen the original "Cube", the movie basically de-evolves down to a 90 minute character study of people trapper in a "prison" made of cubes that have exits on the sides, and top/bottom (six total), and (as they discover eventually) shift position in what can be compared to a rubiks cube of giant purportion. While the movie does provide some nice effects, and does allot to give an impression of a thinking movie (dealing with prime number math) it eventually fails due to a real lack of back story, plot, and character development. In the end you really dont feel for the characters, and are left still trying to figure out what is really going on.
Enter the sequal... I am not sure if "Cube 2" is done by the same people or not, but if it is then I wonder why they didnt come up with something more original character wise. This time around we are presented with more people, trapped within a higher budgeted cube set. Unfortunately most of the characters are just rehashes of the originals. We have a cop like character with a short temper, a disabled person, a strong female lead who butts heads with the male lead and eventually has to flee from him, a person who had a hand in the construction of the cube, and an older female that eventually gets on the nerves of the short tempered cop (which the same eventual outcome). There two characters that dont play into the mix of the origianl, and honestly seem only to be around to give a quick chest shot (Albeit a nice one) to those who rent the DVD.
Onto the story... again they all awake in the cube each with no idea why they are there or what is going on. As in the original we eventually learn that at least some of them have an idea of whats going on, but this time it seems that they are really all tied into this in some way or another. The original cube had a solution, that while difficult to figure out could eventually be done. The mathmatics in the first, made the cube seem more puzzle like then prision like and gave the audience a feeling of that they could help solve the puzzle. This time around we are introduced to the theory of a "hypercube" and how it has the ability to bend time and exist in parallel dimensions. The problem with this is that being a theoretical object, there isnt much for the characters, or the audience, to solve. Since its all theory the directors can do what they want, and change the rules whenever they see fit. This makes the movie all the more difficult to watch as the audience has no feeling of being a part of the movie. The traps, again a major part of the first movie and also involved in the mathmatics of it, are few and far between and provide no real sense of drama. Instead the characters move fast and freely through the majority of the rooms with only the theoretical "traps" to stop them, most of which move so slow and show themselves long before they ever become a threat. In fact two characters die in a way that is never explained; one minute they are alive and enojying themselves (you'll see what I mean), later in the movie they are dead and still in the same position. There is one scene that I assume was done as a homage to the original movie opening trap scene, but aside from that most are dull and, pardon the pun, lifeless.
Eventually the movie comes to a conclusion and one that really did disappoint. The eventual purpose to what is going on is revealed about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and is something that never really happened in the first. Unfortuantely there is a key object to the film that is never introduced till the end, and even then never explained. Once again we are left wondering what happened, and not even left with the self-satisfaction of solving hard math problems. Instead we are left with a clear opening to a third part ... something that should have been easy to guess seeing as how the move is called "Cube" ... if only it had been called "Squared" ...
Aaron