Cube: Ichido haittara, saigo

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.

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.

This film begins with a man waking up and finding himself in a symmetrical room with an exit hatch on all four walls along with one on the floor and one on the ceiling. After choosing to go through one of the exists leading into a similar room, he accidentally triggers an unseen mechanism which results in square-shaped beams quickly protruding from one side of the room which kill him instantly. Then scene then shifts to another man waking up in a similar cube-shaped room and, after venturing from one room to the next, comes upon two other men and a boy who have found themselves in the same situation. Although none of them have any idea what they are doing in this place, one thing they do know is that some of the rooms they came upon were booby trapped. It's during this time that a female named "Kai Asako" (Anne Watanabe) joins them from an adjacent room during which time they all identify themselves. Not long afterward, they come upon an older man named "Kazumasa Ando" (Kotaro Yoshida) who initially believes that these 5 people have come to rescue him. Needless to say, he is quite disappointed to learn that they are also looking for a way out of this predicament as well--and the longer they remain in this environment the more hostile some of the people become. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this remake of the 1997 movie wasn't nearly as good due in large part to some rather bad overacting from some of the cast members. Ironically, although the plot was very similar to the original movie, it did have a twist at the end which I thought was somewhat better. That being said, while I don't consider this movie to be bad by any means, I firmly believe that the original was better, and I have rated this particular picture accordingly. Average.

I guess Japanese like the Drama, but its boring for us. No point for everything that happens, its not interesting, its like a normal movie not a cube one.

There's really no reason to see this film if you've seen the original. It's mostly the same plot, same mystery, and the same utterly unsatisfying ending that doesn't answer a single question you might have.