Cube 2: Hypercube Reviews

Although it necessarily lacks the novelty value of its predecessor, Andrzej Sekula's sequel to Vincenzo Natali's paranoid sci-fi thriller CUBE (1998) is still nightmarishly mesmerizing. Imagine waking up trapped inside a sealed cube whose exits constantly change. That’s the brave new predicament facing psychiatrist Kate Filmore (Kari Matchett), who eventually encounters four other inmates: volatile felon Simon Grady (Geraint Wyn Davies), building contractor Jerry Whitehall (Neil Crone), blind student Sasha (Grace Lynn Kung) and Computer-game designer Max Reisler (Matthew Ferguson). Nothing is what it seems in this prison, and no one is exactly who he or she says. For example, the prisoners — "cubists" — encounter a suicidal businessman named Maguire (Bruce Gray) who turns out to be a military colonel; Colonel Maguire allows himself to be crushed by the shifting cube. They rescue a dotty old lady, Mrs. Paley (Barbara Gordon), who turns out to be a former executive of Izon Inc., the company that made the cube. They learn that Izon financed genius Alex Trust's efforts to defying the laws of physics and realize a theoretical construct, the hypercube. And one of the cube’s unwitting guinea pigs is actually Alex Trust, incognito. Izon attorney Julie (Lindsey Connell) joins the squabbling survivors, and the hypercube slices up Whitehall, whose company helped build this four-dimensional anomaly. The crazed Grady proves almost as deadly as the cube, murdering fellow prisoner Becky Young (Greer Kent) and others. Because the military has co-opted Trust’s brainchild, even Trust (whoever he or she is) may not survive. Although screenwriters Ernie Barabash, Lauren McLaughlin and Sean Hood are clearly worshippers at the shrine of Rod Serling, they fail to emulate the succinctness that characterized his classic work. But despite the over-extended script, Sekula and his cast manage to jangle viewers' nerves as the odd assortment of characters try to find their way out of no-exit situation.