Sunday Night
Nov. 2nd, 2003 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandySINCE LAST WE SPOKE, I went into Manchester in search of flight suits. The army place was closed but I picked up some skipants in TKMaxx for far too much money, especially considering that, best case scenario, I won't ever use them. But what the hell.
Then I went to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
icklejo and arwel's house because I was bored and they were in. We watched Blackadder's Christmas Carol (because I've not watched it since I got it on DVD last Christmas), and then Cube (because I've never seen it before).
Many spoilers involving characters and events. Particularly the last five minutes of the movie. I'm sure most people have seen it by now but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
Cube was better and worse than I imagined. I had heard tales that the cast die off one by one in grisly manner and that nothing is ever explained. This is true as far as it goes. However, the majority of the cast make it to the last 5 minutes - the filmmakers obviously realised that the suspense is what you're going for, and too many grisly deaths aren't usually worth the trouble of creating characters to walk into them. So there's a lot of narrow escapes. Very few cliches - I found myself going "Oh, she's going to die now" and actually being wrong.
The plot was basically irrelevant, as it was primarily a "pressure cooker" movie - take a bunch of disparate characters, lock them in a box and apply heat, as perfected by Hitchcock. Here, of course, there was the added incentive of possible escape dangled in front of the players. The characterisations were largely consistent throughout, with the possible exception of Quentin the Cop's (apparently sudden) descent into insanity. It's almost believable, he's reliant on structures and determined to do whatever it takes to get out. I'd believe it a little more if I could be sure that they wrote it that way because that's how they decided the character would react, rather than deciding the character reacted that way because it would make a good movie. That said, I'm not sure there's a difference.
Some things I had heard (or at least gathered) that were wrong, and would have been cool: Futility was not the message, since there was a way out, there was a solution. I had heard that it was an experiment in futility, that the rules kept changing as they figured them out, that they couldn't stay still. I'd expected that the Twist Ending was, having found their way out of the Cube, they found themselves in another, larger cube. Or that they were only clone people running around mazes like rats, which is why the scientists felt fine about killing them off to see how they reacted. or that they woke up again in the rooms that they started in, the first time they went to sleep, either with or without a memory of it. Something that left you with a feeling of desolation and eternity. Or something.
As I say, the movie fell down at the end, I think. Primarily because of the way the two survivors just sat down for a chat after Kazan got out. The door was there. They knew the bridge wouldn't stay there for long. Even if the man thought he had nothing to return to (and given he was in a safe room, he was essentially choosing death by starvation over a mundane and pointless life), he should have realised the girl was staying to talk him out of it and told her to go before the room left. Also one of them should have heard (and seen) the door opening behind her. They weren't that involved, and the doors were quite loud. I heard it. I suppose you could argue that upon reaching the exit they'd let their guards down, but really, they should have been out and through that exit before that happened.
Oh, yes ... and Quentin finding them was a bit convenient. They'd just been in a moving room, after leaving him behind. With 17576 rooms to choose from, it's awfully coincidental that he happened across the bridge (without passing through any other trap rooms). And I would have liked to see what the Cube looked like from outside, where it was, just something apart from a white light. Probably part of the point is that the cube is disconnected from the rest of the world - you don't even know for sure that they remember what they think they remember, see clones theory - but given that they've successfully escaped it would have been nice to see something. Even a final trap, slicing Kazan in two. It just felt a bit of a let-down, an anticlimax.
Good film overall though. Nicely made; the effects were subtle enough to be convincing. Particularly liked the Sound Room. (Oh, but I'm disappointed there was no room featuring mind control as the Trap - get everybody angry or whatever.)
Oh, I thought that the girl was Nightbird from The Specials. I was wrong, she's Ezri Dax.
And now to bed.
Then I went to
icklejo and arwel's house because I was bored and they were in. We watched Blackadder's Christmas Carol (because I've not watched it since I got it on DVD last Christmas), and then Cube (because I've never seen it before).Many spoilers involving characters and events. Particularly the last five minutes of the movie. I'm sure most people have seen it by now but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
Cube was better and worse than I imagined. I had heard tales that the cast die off one by one in grisly manner and that nothing is ever explained. This is true as far as it goes. However, the majority of the cast make it to the last 5 minutes - the filmmakers obviously realised that the suspense is what you're going for, and too many grisly deaths aren't usually worth the trouble of creating characters to walk into them. So there's a lot of narrow escapes. Very few cliches - I found myself going "Oh, she's going to die now" and actually being wrong.
The plot was basically irrelevant, as it was primarily a "pressure cooker" movie - take a bunch of disparate characters, lock them in a box and apply heat, as perfected by Hitchcock. Here, of course, there was the added incentive of possible escape dangled in front of the players. The characterisations were largely consistent throughout, with the possible exception of Quentin the Cop's (apparently sudden) descent into insanity. It's almost believable, he's reliant on structures and determined to do whatever it takes to get out. I'd believe it a little more if I could be sure that they wrote it that way because that's how they decided the character would react, rather than deciding the character reacted that way because it would make a good movie. That said, I'm not sure there's a difference.
Some things I had heard (or at least gathered) that were wrong, and would have been cool: Futility was not the message, since there was a way out, there was a solution. I had heard that it was an experiment in futility, that the rules kept changing as they figured them out, that they couldn't stay still. I'd expected that the Twist Ending was, having found their way out of the Cube, they found themselves in another, larger cube. Or that they were only clone people running around mazes like rats, which is why the scientists felt fine about killing them off to see how they reacted. or that they woke up again in the rooms that they started in, the first time they went to sleep, either with or without a memory of it. Something that left you with a feeling of desolation and eternity. Or something.
As I say, the movie fell down at the end, I think. Primarily because of the way the two survivors just sat down for a chat after Kazan got out. The door was there. They knew the bridge wouldn't stay there for long. Even if the man thought he had nothing to return to (and given he was in a safe room, he was essentially choosing death by starvation over a mundane and pointless life), he should have realised the girl was staying to talk him out of it and told her to go before the room left. Also one of them should have heard (and seen) the door opening behind her. They weren't that involved, and the doors were quite loud. I heard it. I suppose you could argue that upon reaching the exit they'd let their guards down, but really, they should have been out and through that exit before that happened.
Oh, yes ... and Quentin finding them was a bit convenient. They'd just been in a moving room, after leaving him behind. With 17576 rooms to choose from, it's awfully coincidental that he happened across the bridge (without passing through any other trap rooms). And I would have liked to see what the Cube looked like from outside, where it was, just something apart from a white light. Probably part of the point is that the cube is disconnected from the rest of the world - you don't even know for sure that they remember what they think they remember, see clones theory - but given that they've successfully escaped it would have been nice to see something. Even a final trap, slicing Kazan in two. It just felt a bit of a let-down, an anticlimax.
Good film overall though. Nicely made; the effects were subtle enough to be convincing. Particularly liked the Sound Room. (Oh, but I'm disappointed there was no room featuring mind control as the Trap - get everybody angry or whatever.)
Oh, I thought that the girl was Nightbird from The Specials. I was wrong, she's Ezri Dax.
And now to bed.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-02 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-03 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-03 01:35 am (UTC)Besides, Cube3? What the hell would it do, talk??
no subject
Date: 2003-11-03 02:42 am (UTC)The cubes had 9 panels in each wall (3x3). If they'd been thinking properly, the maze should have been 27 cubes to a side (3x3x3) instead of 26. (Apart from anything else, it needs an odd number if there's going to be a central one ... halfway between 1 and 26 is 13.5.) I really wanted the coordinate/trap system to be based around cubes, though that would probably have been too complex.
The Cube
Date: 2003-11-03 05:31 am (UTC)I've got over it since like. But at the time... Paul doesn't think it is scary at all. But then he probably didn't overthink it like I did when I first saw it.
I don't think its about futility - rather, an exercise in pointlessness. There is a way out. But why are they there in the first place? It is never explained and that is good because it makes you wonder. I like the nihilistic guy's idea that it was a big project in some giant corp that evolved wildly away from the original plan as all badly managed projects are and that in the end, the only reason that some people have been put in it is because so much budget was spent on it so they have to pretend there is a purpose. Beurocracy taken to its highest level of farce.
I also like that the only guy who got out was the mad guy. No-one will believe him. So, it's actually the same as no-one having got out at all...
I agree that Quentin's decent into madness is a little sudden but not unexpected. After all, all we really know about the inhabitants of the cube is what they tell their colleagues. And the way they act. Quentin was quite obviously a control freak with peodophilic tendancies. I actually see him as another trap. I think he may have been an ex-cop who went nuts and possibly murdered his wife and kids but he's not a consistent fruit-loop. Just an unstable guy with a bad temper who cannot handle rejection and has the tendancy to go psychotic when events are out of his control. He killed the doctor because she dared to question him. Then the girl he fancied (Ezri Dax - good spot!) obviously sided with the nihilist and the madman. He's cannot work out the maths and is confused. Bang! Time to go nuts! I think whoever put them there knew he was a ticky time bomb. The others all had skills or knowlege useful to the escape. He didn't. At first it appeared that he may have leadership qualities but actually he is the main protagonist throughout. The others could've settled their differences. So, I guess I'm saying their was a "mind control trap" of sorts but it wasn't limited to one room.
Anyway, I've waffled enough.
Watch Cube2 if you like. But be warned, it's plot sucks, the physics are bad, the characters are mostly stereotypes, the effects aren't special, it aint scary. But worst of all, it puts a dull face to the facelessness that provided Cube with its edge. Your not left wondered "why" but "why did I bother?". That said, if you watch it you can join in when we deride it :-)
Re: The Cube
Date: 2003-11-03 06:00 am (UTC)I suspect you saw it a few years ago (when it first came out?) so the "slice them into bits and have them stick together for a few seconds" gag wasn't old news. I was fully expecting it as soon as the little red lines appeared so it didn't put me on edge quite so much.
Fun fact: The guy who dies in the first scene-setting segment gets billed above Quentin The Cop (which is the character's name as billed). I agree that Quentin's madness wasn't wholly out of character, I mostly just didn't like it because it was nasty.
Re: The Cube
Date: 2003-11-03 07:19 am (UTC)And he's billed above Quentin The Cop? No wonder he went mad. "I demand a higher credit listing or I'll make sure no-one but the loony survives this picture!"
I'm not sure whether I think your idea abot minature clones is cool, or whether you've watched too much Futurama...? I'll ponder it ;->
Re: The Cube
Date: 2003-11-03 07:37 am (UTC)Also I don't recall getting a very good look at the dissolving face - that scene was mostly reaction shots. Like with most good horror movies the horror is only implied, and the human brain fills in the goriest and most horrible of sights in response to that. No filmmaker can possibly match the terrors that lurk within the human psyche, because your innermost fears are unique to you. I think Ridley Scott said something along those lines (which is why the Alien special edition has fewer clear shots of the alien).
"Quentin the Cop" is actually billed last. Possibly in a 1950s sitcom it would have said "And Starring" before his name, in which case being named last would be quite the prestige. But without that "And Starring" he's just last.
Re: The Cube
Date: 2003-11-04 09:46 am (UTC)Imagine if Rennes came back without his face? Eeeeeugh!! I wish I hadn't...
no subject
Date: 2003-11-03 12:23 pm (UTC)