Cube 2: Hypercube
Rated: R (Language, Violence, Brief Nudity)
Run time: 95 minutes
There isn't too much to say about the sequel to Cube. Alternatively known as Cube(squared): Hypercube, Cube 2 is a whirlwind of quantum physics and mind-fucks galore. I watched the series according to a D&D campaign that a friend of mine wrote and there's more information on that in the previous Cube review I've done, so it's best if I don't recap on that again.
Unfortunately I don't really have much of an anecdote for this particular review as I couldn't really connect with it too much. I've done a little intro-to course on some quantum physics in high school and it was very interesting (The Copenhagen Interpretation, if you're wondering), but Hypercube here seemed to be obsessed with only the 4th dimensional mechanics of how a shape would work in that sense; and it didn't seem to really tie in well with quantum mechanics at all, despite what the premise and such seem to point at.
STORY
The story starts off with a man screaming something about how he can't find numbers in the passages between the cubes, a throwback to the original Cube, which seems to point at this particular character as the original creator. The opening scene ends with the man saying a prayer before seeming to try and kill himself.
Truth be told, as exposition-tastic as this is; it doesn't give the same feeling of being alone and helpless in a place where you don't know if your next step will lead you into a horrible, gory death like the original Cube did. Truth be told; this scene seems to play almost no part other than to just begin the "WTF?" train.
Getting back on track; the movie continues on to introduce the othersheep to the slaughter characters, who seem like the same carbon cutouts of the previous movie. There's not much here that is terribly interesting, but they replace the autistic genius with an old lady with Alzheimer's. They serve the same purpose, however, as someone who knows much more than anybody else about what's going on. However, as the movie proceeds, more and more people seem to actually know a lot more than they let on about the existence of the Cube and the details within.
The Cube this time is a 4 dimensional entity known as a "tesseract" or hypercube which "...isn't supposed to exist. It's a theoretical entity." Every time someone tries to move to a new room, it seems like the moment the doors close to that room, it changes somehow; even in ways that seem impossible like changes in gravity, time, and looping right back to the same exact room. This is where the "quantum mind-fuck" comes in; the fact that the entire cube seems to make the a surrealist reality that no one can explain.
The ending is a sheer disappointment that I'll try not to spoil, although you're not missing much but another big "WTF?!" just before the credits roll. The story overall is just a bunch of "WoooOOooOO~ look at this creepy thing that quantum physicists aren't really talking about but because it seems surreal and science-y, we're going to make it look like it might be quantum-ish! WOOOOoooOOO!"
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The cinematography itself is fairly poor in Cube 2. It seems like the creators got so caught up in the quantum-fantasy they were trying so hard to push that they forgot to make the special effects look pretty or even presentable.
The "traps" they include are only things that come out of the walls and dismember people for... no explained rhyme or reason, a whirling ball of spiked doom that supposedly models a hypercube, and a wall of disintegration or... aging... or something that isn't explained at all which just seems to further push this whole movie outside the realms of believable scariness and into "WTF?" land.
All in all, the movie comes across as just plain ugly, and not in the good, gritty, disturbing kind of way that a horror movie should be. Rather it just seems like it's a bunch of half-baked ideas thrown together to look weird and create a bunch of confusion and pseudo-quantum crapola.
WRAP-UP
Sorry that this review is shorter than most of the ones I do, but I simply can't find anything really to talk about within the movie other than what I've pointed out. It's just makes me sit back with my brow furrowed in a load of confusion and rage building within my head and chest. The more I think about this the more I just want to pretend that this movie turned out like the 3rd Matrix movie; it never really existed, it was just a bad dream.
The characters are unlikable, the story is absolute shit that tries to be intellectual and edgy with theoretical science/math, and the way it's presented in the end is just... flat out ugly and unlikable. I'd recommend avoiding this movie at all costs to anyone who's curious.
To end on a lighter note, a quote from the movie:
Jerry Whitehall: How do you do, Mrs. Paley?
Mrs. Paley: Hello.
Jerry Whitehall: You don't happen to know why you're here, do you?
Mrs. Paley: Oh, dear, I was never very good at philosophy.
[Some of the others chuckle at this]
Until next time,
~Sui
Upcoming reviews:
-Cube Zero (Movie)
-Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
-More when I think of them.
Rated: R (Language, Violence, Brief Nudity)
Run time: 95 minutes
There isn't too much to say about the sequel to Cube. Alternatively known as Cube(squared): Hypercube, Cube 2 is a whirlwind of quantum physics and mind-fucks galore. I watched the series according to a D&D campaign that a friend of mine wrote and there's more information on that in the previous Cube review I've done, so it's best if I don't recap on that again.
Unfortunately I don't really have much of an anecdote for this particular review as I couldn't really connect with it too much. I've done a little intro-to course on some quantum physics in high school and it was very interesting (The Copenhagen Interpretation, if you're wondering), but Hypercube here seemed to be obsessed with only the 4th dimensional mechanics of how a shape would work in that sense; and it didn't seem to really tie in well with quantum mechanics at all, despite what the premise and such seem to point at.
STORY
The story starts off with a man screaming something about how he can't find numbers in the passages between the cubes, a throwback to the original Cube, which seems to point at this particular character as the original creator. The opening scene ends with the man saying a prayer before seeming to try and kill himself.
Truth be told, as exposition-tastic as this is; it doesn't give the same feeling of being alone and helpless in a place where you don't know if your next step will lead you into a horrible, gory death like the original Cube did. Truth be told; this scene seems to play almost no part other than to just begin the "WTF?" train.
Getting back on track; the movie continues on to introduce the other
The Cube this time is a 4 dimensional entity known as a "tesseract" or hypercube which "...isn't supposed to exist. It's a theoretical entity." Every time someone tries to move to a new room, it seems like the moment the doors close to that room, it changes somehow; even in ways that seem impossible like changes in gravity, time, and looping right back to the same exact room. This is where the "quantum mind-fuck" comes in; the fact that the entire cube seems to make the a surrealist reality that no one can explain.
The ending is a sheer disappointment that I'll try not to spoil, although you're not missing much but another big "WTF?!" just before the credits roll. The story overall is just a bunch of "WoooOOooOO~ look at this creepy thing that quantum physicists aren't really talking about but because it seems surreal and science-y, we're going to make it look like it might be quantum-ish! WOOOOoooOOO!"
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The cinematography itself is fairly poor in Cube 2. It seems like the creators got so caught up in the quantum-fantasy they were trying so hard to push that they forgot to make the special effects look pretty or even presentable.
The "traps" they include are only things that come out of the walls and dismember people for... no explained rhyme or reason, a whirling ball of spiked doom that supposedly models a hypercube, and a wall of disintegration or... aging... or something that isn't explained at all which just seems to further push this whole movie outside the realms of believable scariness and into "WTF?" land.
All in all, the movie comes across as just plain ugly, and not in the good, gritty, disturbing kind of way that a horror movie should be. Rather it just seems like it's a bunch of half-baked ideas thrown together to look weird and create a bunch of confusion and pseudo-quantum crapola.
WRAP-UP
Sorry that this review is shorter than most of the ones I do, but I simply can't find anything really to talk about within the movie other than what I've pointed out. It's just makes me sit back with my brow furrowed in a load of confusion and rage building within my head and chest. The more I think about this the more I just want to pretend that this movie turned out like the 3rd Matrix movie; it never really existed, it was just a bad dream.
The characters are unlikable, the story is absolute shit that tries to be intellectual and edgy with theoretical science/math, and the way it's presented in the end is just... flat out ugly and unlikable. I'd recommend avoiding this movie at all costs to anyone who's curious.
To end on a lighter note, a quote from the movie:
Jerry Whitehall: How do you do, Mrs. Paley?
Mrs. Paley: Hello.
Jerry Whitehall: You don't happen to know why you're here, do you?
Mrs. Paley: Oh, dear, I was never very good at philosophy.
[Some of the others chuckle at this]
Until next time,
~Sui
Upcoming reviews:
-Cube Zero (Movie)
-Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
-More when I think of them.