Since most reviews here are damningly negative of Cube 2, I feel I have to post one opposing view, just so that possible fans won't skip this film altogether. Yes, the characters are rather stereotypical, and basically imported directly from Cube 1, but there is enough mystery about some of them to make you wonder about their real motives and/or origins. I personally think the effects and visuals (the cube) look wonderful. But maybe it's just cos I was brought up on things like Doctor Who and Blakes 7!
The mathematics and physics behind the cube remain intriguing throughout the film, as you gradually learn how the work in the cube. My interest was retained despite the fact that I was already very familiar with the concept of a 4-dimensional cube (`hypercube') and some theories about how they might `appear' to someone inside them. On the other hand, maybe this is why I was intrigued - to see how they translated these theories into a film (answer: very intelligently). I think that the script writers managed very well to combine interesting evolving inter-personal dynamics with the bizarre realities of physics (time and 4 dimensions).
Although the film was very similar in some ways to Cube 1, it was cunningly different in others. For example, the numbers identifying the rooms, vital to the progression of the first film, were in some ways a red herring in the second. I am somewhat ambivalent about the ending. I think it was acceptable, if you caught what happened exactly (I've only seen one review here (Sareji's) which seemed to actually catch what happened at the end), but as others have pointed out, it lacks the much deeper and fascinating metaphorical meaning about society and individual responsibility.
Although slightly flawed, this is an intelligent and unusual film, and, I think, deserves to be seen, but only after Cube 1, because it plays with some of the viewers expectations, and extends on many of the ideas of the first film.
The mathematics and physics behind the cube remain intriguing throughout the film, as you gradually learn how the work in the cube. My interest was retained despite the fact that I was already very familiar with the concept of a 4-dimensional cube (`hypercube') and some theories about how they might `appear' to someone inside them. On the other hand, maybe this is why I was intrigued - to see how they translated these theories into a film (answer: very intelligently). I think that the script writers managed very well to combine interesting evolving inter-personal dynamics with the bizarre realities of physics (time and 4 dimensions).
Although the film was very similar in some ways to Cube 1, it was cunningly different in others. For example, the numbers identifying the rooms, vital to the progression of the first film, were in some ways a red herring in the second. I am somewhat ambivalent about the ending. I think it was acceptable, if you caught what happened exactly (I've only seen one review here (Sareji's) which seemed to actually catch what happened at the end), but as others have pointed out, it lacks the much deeper and fascinating metaphorical meaning about society and individual responsibility.
Although slightly flawed, this is an intelligent and unusual film, and, I think, deserves to be seen, but only after Cube 1, because it plays with some of the viewers expectations, and extends on many of the ideas of the first film.