Cube

So the Japanese tried to remake the classic survival horror movie "Cube". They did a poor job of it. Not only are the characters annoying as hell, but they introduced some psychic connection with the cube and an occupant that was idiotic. Aside from the lack of interesting trap rooms, coherent characters and wired psychic reaction within the cube, there is really nothing worthwhile in this poorly conceived remake. If you are curious still, then give it a watch. I don't recommend this for fans of the original film. Until this stupid review character requirement is lifted you all will have to spend your time reading bloated reviews with no substance because we have to fill the last part of the review with this nonsense just to get it submitted now. We all need a new rating website. This one has gone in the dump.

Like others who have written reviews here, I'm a fan of the original. It had been a while since I'd seen it, so I was intrigued by this remake, I wanted to see what would be changed.

The answer is... nothing. Or at least nothing that improved on the original, which it seems to follow beat for beat. While I don't think it's done shot for shot, I was reminded of Gus van Sants Psycho remake. When I saw that, I felt growing horror (not the good kind) as I realized that, yes indeed, he really made it as close as the original as possible. Why do a remake of a great movie if you have nothing new to say? Remake a bad one.

So this version of Cube feels more like a copy, but slower, dumber, longer, and cheaper. When I watch a film in another language, I sometimes find it hard to evaluate the acting. Not so here - the acting is bad. The oldest actor appears to have some screen presence. Everyone else is sub par.

So if you're a curious fan like me, skip this and rewatch the original.

Well, I could write a long review about it, but the review title I've put up there says it all. So how I could reach 150 characters when there is really nothing else to say about that...

This movie, although not better than the original, does deserve more than a 4.6 in my opinion. It has decent drama in terms of psychology, but the logic is sloppy or questionable at most.

This one is more of a "Mystery, Drama" as opposed to Cube (1997)'s "Psychological Thriller" status. These Cube films are all over the place in terms of genre and tone, so that's not a bad thing at all. I like the variety this franchise holds while somehow being as formulaic and repetitive as a Scooby-Doo film.

It also repeats a lot of the plot beats from the Cube (1997) film, that this is technically based on. The film has different characters that are different character archetypes than the original film too, which was nice to see. The characters rely less on their archetypes and more on their emotions, which made for an investing and riveting drama. This film stands alone and sets itself apart by changing so much about the characters, while keeping most of the plot beats of the original.

It's also almost 25 years after the original film's release, and VFX have advanced a lot since then. This film is able to fully replicate and in some places even surpass the effects of the original film. The gore is almost non-existent in this one, but the more mysterious and dramatic tone didn't leave me longing for gore. The cutaways to a CGI cube graphic was really annoying, but it added to the mystery, and it payed off, so i can't complain. This might actually have the most satisfying ending of any Cube franchise film, even though it leaves you on such a great hook for a sequel. One of my biggest gripes is these films' inconsistency with continuity and technology. I really hope this film gets a sequel directly following this film and is able to tie up its loose ends completely satisfactorily, for the first time in Cube (1997) history.

Keep in mind that i am an official member of the Cube (1997) appreciation society, so you should know i like me some Cube franchise media. I really enjoyed this film, but I don't think any of this Cube sequels surpass 3 stars.

Anyways, if you have a way to watch this, you should. It's a Cube film, you know what you're getting into.