July 20, 2018
Written by: Sean Hood, Ernie Barbarash, Lauren McLaughlin
Starring: Kari Matchett, Geraint Wyn Davies, Grace Lynn Kung
Quote: Oh, shit. Goddamn it! Goddamn it! I mean, they're my numbers! Damn. Don't I at least get a shot at my numbers, you stupid fucks? I want a chance! God. I want a chance. God. I want a chance, like everyone else!
Trivia: For the previous movie, the crew clamped large lighting gels to the outer frame of the set so they could change the color scheme, but the all-white high-tech color scheme of this film simplified the lighting, and all they had to do to change the set in regards to what room they wanted to depict was to write on the walls with a grease pen and position certain props necessary to the plot.
Cube 2: Hypercube is the sequel to the very original cube movie. This one plays on the same idea of having a group of strangers appear in a room and try to solve the puzzle in order to escape. There are two big features, one is successful and the other not so much, that separate this one form the original. What was really great is that this time, the film plays with the laws of physics allowing for parallel dimensions, varying time speeds, alternative realities, etc. Unfortunately, in order to accomplish this, the filmmakers chose to use a ton of Computer Graphics (CG) making the film's special effects look cheesy and dated. While it didn't ruin the movie, it is distracting and does not hold up. The first movie's practical effects gave it a timeless appeal.
The movie follows eight strangers who all end up in a maze of cubic rooms. The strangers, they eventually find out, have a connection to a weapon's company. As they go throughout the maze they learn that the cube is a hypercube so the laws of physics no longer apply there: Room's gravity will change randomly, people will leave a room only to reenter the same room, etc. Some of the characters keep noticing the number 60659 keeps appearing and must be a clue. Meanwhile, one of the strangers loses his mind and tries to kill everyone.
With any sequel, it is difficult not to compare this movie to the original and rarely does the sequel live up to its predecessor. This movie is no different. It begins with a stranger waking up in the cube and being killed. The original Cube's opening death scene was awesome with a guy being slices into little cubes. This one just had the stranger falling into a black abyss... way less interesting! Also, the cube rooms doesn't look as cool in this movie. The original one had this colored walls with geometric patterns on them. In this sequel they are just white. Another comparison is that both movies have one character losing his mind and trying to kill everyone. The villain in the first movie was so much scarier than this one. Finally, the gore. The first Cube had a lot of violence and was a really dark and gritty movie. This film relies much more on CG so there is very little gore that we see. Aside from a stabbing that happens off screen and a self stabbing on screen, most characters are killed by CG pillars or CG waves of whatever. I don't necessarily need a ton of gore, not every movie needs to be Hostel, but there should be some in a horror movie.
I did enjoy the film's use of science and physics. One book that got me into science was the Mr. Thompkin's books where he wanders around town and experiences changes in physic laws as a way to explain how gravity, timespace, and other phenomena work. This movie does the same, which is a really fun way to experiment with physical laws.
In the end, two of the characters realize 60659 is a time and represents when the different realities in the cube will collapse in upon themselves thereby annihilating everything. The cube's annihilation is CG but comes off a lot better than the previous CG used in the film. Unfortunately, I think the filmmakers made a mistake by having the character escape and letting us see what was on the other side. The first movie let our imaginations fill in the blanks but this one shows us that it was some military experiment or whatever.
There's one more Cube movie left, Cube Zero a prequel. Hopefully that one is a little better than this one.
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