Rating of
4/4
Astronomical!
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 05/17/10
I don't know, maybe it's because Cube contains so many things I'm admittedly a sucker for (extremely low-budget and independent, cryptic messages, mathy/sciency ideas, ensemble casts, unanswered questions, discussions on possible theories, etc., etc., etc.) but I was very surprised on how much I loved this film.
Full of Kafka-esque coolness and simplicity, Cube is a film that one realizes after not too long, takes place on just one set and somehow stays unbelievably interesting, not with money, but with pure driven story. It brings up a lot of questions about what could possibly be happening and the cast takes a lot of time in discussing them, but I was so absorbed that I really did not care if I was given any answers or not, quite the contrary, I was happier when I was left with virtually nothing for an explanation.
I think one of the unfair criticisms this movie gets is its acting. Yes, the acting is admittedly not the "greatest", but what about Night of the Living Dead? The Evil Dead? Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Pi? Freaks? They don't contain revolutionary acting either, but no one immediately dismisses those movies because of the acting! Even with that being said, these actors do pretty good, regardless,and they give a good essence of character and its not like its community theater or something, they help drive the story and ideas enough to keep you more than interested.
Speaking of the characters, this is also something I don't think gets fully appreciated in this movie. I thought the use of character was really quite brilliant. I mean we've had the group of strangers being forced to be stuck together, but I felt this movie had a very unique take on it. We begin this movie, feeling that the "super-cop" character, Quentin, is going to be like Ben from Night of the Living Dead and take charge and try to come up with some sort of order or plan, remaining calm while being in the middle of something the could be overwhelming for most other people, and about half way through the film, Quentin becomes the most despicable, violent, angry, and corrupt person out of everyone in the group. There is no main character, no famous face, every character has major flaws, and that made me have absolutely no idea what could happen, and what usually did end up happening was very far from anything I had predicted.
All in all, I am still very surprised on how taken I was with this movie, and I definitely think it should get more recognition. Most of my close friends who I've spoken to about this movie have luckily, already seen it before me, and all of them seemed to have really enjoyed it, so maybe its cult status will grow even more. Hopefully one day it will be more widely regarded in film books and by scholars as a classic sci-fi and thriller film. I certainly find it to be one of my personal favorite science-fiction films, which is saying a whole lot, and something that is even more rare is that it actually scared me, because it felt like a very "believable" nightmare I might have.
5/5
