It's been a long time since I last watched it, but I'm a huge fan of Vincenzo Natali's original 1997 film. It's unique, smart, and imaginative, and it very much caught my attention when I first saw it in the late 90s and whenever I've seen it again. No, I've not seen either of the "sequels" to follow in the 2000s, but Natali's progenitor remains a sci-fi horror-thriller that I think about a lot. I was chuffed to learn it was getting a Japanese remake - not because I'm especially keen on remakes at large (the opposite, actually), but rather, no one does horror quite like Japanese filmmakers do. What might 'Cube' look like twenty-four years later in the hands of Shimizu Yasuhiko? Well, the good news is that if you like 'Cube,' you're getting more 'Cube.' Shimizu's 'Cube' reflects love for Natali's 'Cube' and its inventive concept. The bad news is that Shimizu and writer Tokuo Koji drew the wrong lessons from that prior ingenuity, because when I say that this 2021 feature is a remake, I mean that in some ways it is nearly an exact duplicate of what Natali gave us with co-writers André Bijelic and Graeme Manson. And where this rendition does differentiate itself, it's with expansion on ideas that take the storytelling in an ill-advised direction. This doesn't mean that the new iteration isn't still enjoyable or worthwhile on some level. It does mean that it's frankly unnecessary, and simply not as enjoyable or worthwhile as the film it's reimagining.
Granted, it's certainly not as if the Japanese version is a shot for shot recreation. New traps were devised to fill some of the rooms, or even just updated visions of some we've seen before, and with these comes an opportunity to foster tension and suspense even as we know the broad story. The rooms have a different visual design. We get some filler shots of computer-generated imagery, existing outside the boundaries of the small group of characters and their path, that I actually don't think were necessary as they reinforce the sci-fi angle; there are times when this 'Cube' definitely recalls the wild creations of contemporaries like Miike Takashi, for better and or worse. The audio is crystal clear, and the sound effects lend to the viewing experience more than I think was true before. Overall I do like Yamada Yutaka's score, flavorful as it complements the proceedings, though I think it's a bit of a mixed bag: the more atmospheric themes are superb, be they harsh and searing, emotive, or otherwise primed to help build pressure; the more melodic themes, however, and those that employ EDM beats, may be swell in and of themselves but aren't fully appropriate to the broad tenor in the first place, and in some specific instances are pointedly ill-fitting.
If all that comes off as a grab bag, though, unfortunately it gets worse from there. Some scenes and characterizations are taken quite directly from the 1997 origin, not to mention the general thrust of the plot. Some of those characterizations are twisted into new directions, or expanded upon, or receive heavier focus, and I do think there were some good ideas as far as these go. Case in point, to some degree the new material that Tokuo infuses into the proceedings bears its best potential when zeroing in on how the personalities and histories of the characters make them as much of a danger to each other as the traps. This is hardly the first horror flick to explore that notion, and indeed, Natali touched upon this in some measure. Yet to be blunt, Tokuo's character writing is entirely too thin and unconvincing to carry the weight of the plot they are made to shoulder, and this ultimately becomes the critical downfall of the whole picture.
We're treated to many scattered shots and brief scenes portending characters' memories and backstories, and at first they just come off as misguided additions to pad out the length in a fashion that we commonly criticize when, say, international movies get a Hollywood remake. Were that the case, I would say that these tangential story beats would be worth pursuing in another title, but here they kill the pacing and momentum instead of heightening the stakes. However, what at first seems tangential and misguided increasingly becomes a major facet of the narrative, placing at least as much emphasis on the characters if not more than on the titular structure(s). As the character writing is insufficient to hold any proverbial water, the characters just become kind of annoying, and then the dialogue; some of the actors do fine, and some of the direction is fine, but some actors are given dubiously little to do, some of the direction must overcompensate, and the acting suffers in turn. It's hard to care about these insubstantial characters, and as the plot begins to center them more than their geometric nightmare, it becomes easy to somewhat check out. That might be recommended, actually, because when late in the runtime one actor is given a ranting screed to recite, the dialogue almost comes off like a block of text cobbled together by "generative artificial intelligence" from manifestos scraped off the Internet.
Natali's 'Cube' succeeded because it was the straightforward story of a group of strangers finding themselves in an extraordinary, deadly scenario, and they butted heads as they exercised their capabilities to try to find their way out while speculating on their situation. It was fit and trim at ninety minutes. This is essentially all that Shimizu's 'Cube' needed to be, albeit with new thoughts to distinguish itself, and with the expectation that, like much of Japanese horror otherwise, the violence, blood, and gore would probably be more extreme. Shimizu's 'Cube' instead veers off more in the direction of "who are worse, the monsters or the people?" - but without the strength to make that approach work. Shimizu's direction is technically proficient, the cast do the best they can with the material, Tokuo has some good ideas, and all those operating behind the scenes turned in excellent work: effects practical and digital, stunts, sound, cinematography, and absolutely the sets and lighting. Without a script that can make any of it count, however, the end result is sadly middling and disappointing, and 108 minutes feel longer than they are.
I don't completely dislike this 2021 remake. But I regret to say that in all honesty, one is likely better served by just rewatching the 1997 movie. Check it out if you want, and may you get more out of it than I do, but in my opinion there's just not enough value here to warrant spending the time.
