[Film Review] Cube (2021)

There is a long-established tradition of American film studios remaking popular foreign language movies. Whenever a film crosses international borders rather than allow audiences to enjoy a film in its native tongue, a new version sans subtitles is created. Although it’s a trick that America utilises a lot, there are few examples of an international territory remaking an English language film, which makes Yasuhiko Shimizu’s Cube (2021) something of a rarity.

Inspired by Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 film of the same name, Cube joins a group of six strangers as they awaken in a nightmarish puzzle box. The strange structure is rigged with high-tech booby traps making their bids at escape near impossible. With an understanding of complex maths potentially being their only hope, they desperately try to survive the cube and each other. As remakes go, Shimizu’s rendering is fairly faithful to its source material, with a couple of minor deviations. The inclusion of Natali as co-writer, alongside Kôji Tokuo, explains the similarity to the original. 

Cube follows roughly the same path as its predecessor, but there are enough side-steps to keep things interesting. One element that made the 1997 film so eye-catching was its cold opening with Alderson (Julian Richings) as he explored the cube alone. His opening death is mirrored here, but the method of dispatch is a play on that witnessed in Cube (1997). It’s a wry nod that demonstrates a respect for Natali’s work, but affirms that this film will do its own thing. All of the subsequent trapped rooms follow suit and present a new spin on the familiar. This idea is also continued through the cast of characters, each sharing characteristics with those seen before. 

Shimizu’s reversioning is far from a resounding success though. One of the strongest aspects of Natali’s story was the characters, their interactions and developments. This time around, with the exception of Goto (Masaki Okada), there is little to learn about anyone. Each character stays within their own bubble, never fully interacting and integrating with one another. The only venture at a connection is between Goto and Chiharu (Hikaru Tashiro) and even that feels lacklustre. An even bigger disservice is done to the film’s only female character, Kai (Anne Watanabe). She becomes so side-lined that it is quite easy to forget she exists at all. With no real investment in the players, it’s hard to get as rooted in their plight and the distance creates a film that can be enjoyed in the shallows only. 

The final misstep is, while Natali’s Cube was a tight ninety minutes, Shimizu’s is closer to the two-hour mark. Given the lack of character progression, this additional time is unnecessary, causing the pacing to drag. The extended runtime is used to build in plot points that momentarily take the viewer out of the cube. Shifting the action outside, however briefly, kills the momentum and atmosphere. 

A key strength of this iteration of Cube is in the design. It captures the striking appearance of the original but adapts it. This time around the structure is a more imposing presence, due in part to it having been enlarged. The extra height makes things especially hairy when it comes time to travel through a ceiling hatch. It isn’t quite a death-defying drop, but it certainly looks as though it would hurt more than a little.

The use of light for the different rooms is also slicker, a positive of technological advancements during the intervening years. There’s a crispness to the image that works within the story to create the desired clean science-fiction aesthetic. Visually, this is the perfect sandbox, it is just a shame that the characters playing in it are so undercooked and underutilised. 

Although far from the worst in the series - that accolade goes to Cube: Hypercube (2002) - Shimizu’s retooling of Natali’s indie sci-fi classic doesn’t hit as hard as it could. 

Cube is available to watch exclusively on SCREAMBOX.

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