The first Cube film was a surprising small film that built on a No Exit theme providing delightful science fiction (SF) and horror touches. I admired its building claustrophobic tension. Cube was one of the first films I reviewed when I joined einsiders.com.

In Cube 2, we are introduced to Kate (Kari Mathcett) a psychologist, and Simon Grady (Geraint Wyn Davies) who may be a private detective looking for a girl abducted by the Cube. We meet Jerry Whitehall (Neil Crone) who is an engineer who might know who might know something about the door panels in the Cube. Others trapped include Max (Matthew Ferguson), a video game designer, Mrs. Paley (Barbara Gordon), an old lady suffering from what might be Alzheimer's disease, and Sasha (Grace Lynn Jung), a blind girl. This eclectic grouping are joined by a few other fellow travelers to the grave who must use their collective wits to escape the Cube, a prison of some sort.

Cube 2: Hypercube gives us a new Cube construct, one that employs some nifty and not so scary scientific theories. Time is in flux in this new realm and everyone has a secret that is carefully linked to a conspiracy, or is it only chance that some of the travelers have connections to this new Cube. Where the first Cube suggested that chance played a role in the selection of the hostages, Cube 2 makes an effort to provide a logical explanation. While the ultimate payoff isn't completely satisfying, Cube 2 is an enjoyable continuation of the franchise.

The franchise in this case is just not big enough to appeal to a mass audience. So, why this sequel is clearly superior to the well promoted teen horror fair of the day, it isn't as marketable. Therefore, look for Cube 2 on your video shelf.

This sequel manages to sidestep the yuck factor of the first film by avoiding the gross and terrifying traps that lay in wait for each visitor. In the first film, every room in the Cube was inhabited by some awful danger like fire or a razor sharp cutting net that sliced and diced all who enter. There was some clever math involved in the first film which due to the theoretical nature of this new Cube is really just make-believe. One of the problems with this Cube is that it does not appear likely that any of the inhabitants have any realistic chance of exiting. In the first film, the hostages seemed to be able to think their way through. Here in this new Hypercube, the odds of survival are just non-existent.

The loss of hope in the Hypercube cause great problems for the script. Since this realm is theoretical and takes liberties with what I believe is an area of quantum physics, no writer could hope to map a conclusion where anyone survives let alone explains the existence of the construct. Cube 2 does end, of course, and we get a cool, if more confusing, answer of sorts.

Director Andrzej Sekula (cinematographer on such films as Oleanna, Pulp Fiction, and American Psycho) shows a talent in Cube 2 for capturing claustrophobia especially in the film's later scenes. I like the split screen techniques employed and the way they are used to explain how each character came to the new Cube. I'm afraid, however, that Sekula is betrayed by Sean Hood's overly ambitious screenplay about something far too theoretical to lend itself to this kind of story-telling. I wonder what Mr. Hood's background is: does he have a degree in physics? Hood apparently has some involvement with the fourth Crow movie that is reportedly being directed by that guy, Lance Mungia, who was responsible for that cool flick Six String Samurai, so I doubt that he is a math wiz. But this Hypercube is interesting and the theory upon which it is based is intelligent and could have been explored more. I would have liked to have seen some interviews with physicists talking about the Hypercube theory. While this may have slowed down the tension, it would have greatly improved the film and made it more than a horror vehicle. You see, Cube 2 wimps out and goes to the well instead of breaking new ground.

Jonathan W. Hickman, 2003