Can
you believe it's been an entire six years since Cube was released and astonished
horror fans everywhere? After such a cool flick, shot with such an entirely
small budget and set, it's hard to ignore making a sequel. Here we are, six
years later and now Lions Gate with be releasing direct-to-video Cube 2: Hypercube
on April 29th in association with Trimark Home Video. The tag line pretty much
explains the plot in a nutshell, "In this place, space defies reason,
time has no meaning, and reality is out to get you." A group of strangers
(eight exactly) awake in a newly designed cube, with white walls and a
scientific futuristic look. They slowly move from room to room and discover
there's more people trapped inside the same device as they are. No one seems
to know how they got where they are or why... or do they? Unlike the first Cube,
not everyone in this cube seem to have a reason to be there, and this
weakens the plot drastically. My first impression was how incredible the cube
looked, it was well crafted, futuristic and a huge step from the first film.
Unfortunately, this cube is missing a HUGE component, Booby Traps. I
was so looking forward to original kills and heart pounding surprises, instead
they use one of the worst computer generated effects I’ve
seen in years to
kill (you'll understand more when you see the film). After watching about 45
minutes of Cube 2: Hypercube, I started to think about the acting. The
acting was really well done for a small budget cast, which included the likes
of Kari Matchett (Angel Eyes), Geraint Wyn Davies (American Psycho 2,
Alien Tracker), Matthew Ferguson (Billy Madison, The English Patient), and
Bruce Gray (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Peacemaker). At first the acting
seemed kind of hokey and the character development is completely missing,
until you realize that it's not the actors fault, it's the ridiculous scripting
job (Sean Hood). Not to take anything away from the original and excellent
concept of Cube 2: Hypercube (also done by Sean Hood), but the dialogue was
horrendous. Cube 2: Hypercube included some of the worst scenes of human
interaction since Slingblade, only it wasn’t supposed to be
like
that! All right, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but a script
is approved
before a film even gets its cast hired, so why didn’t someone
read this script
and say, "what's with this, and what's with that?" The eight-guinnie
pigs
trapped inside this cube made a valiant effort with the script and made it
something worth watching. Back to the camera work, FX of Cube 2: Hypercube.
Phenomenal directing job by Andrzej Sekula, I haven't seen such vision in a
direct to video film in years. (Spoiler Warning In one scene, one of the female
actress's is in one of the cubes while the other actor in the hole
coming through to the cube. What we see next is a shot from each of these
actors’ eyes. One is in a time zone that exceeds normal speed,
while the other is in slow motion. He interlaces the two visions into one shot
that is quite
a visual treat!(END Spoiler) He brings out the best in new technology,
but unfortunately, he goes way overboard. Whether its Sekula's fault or the
FX supervisors I don't know, but the FX of this new "development"
(without
spoiling it for you) is horrendous. It's hard to explain what’s
wrong
with the FX without releasing some major spoilers so I'm going to have to
drop the subject and let you see for yourselves. Overall, Cube 2: Hypercube
is a alright flick. With pacing that’s snail like slow at
times mixed with
the horrid FX and lack of unique kill scenes, the film falls way short of
my expectations, especially after waiting six years! But if you are a big
fan of the first Cube, and expect a little less, you will enjoy Cube 2:
Hypercube. The theory behind this new cube and the acting make this a fun watch
even though certain aspects are flawed. I would definitely recommend taking
the time to rent Cube 2: Hypercube, because it's a fun 'four-dimensional'
one time see.
