The 'Cube' series is a series I had never even heard of before this bloody lockdown and now I'm putting hours of my life into it. The first one, 'Cube' (1997), was probably the biggest surprise of these reviews so far. I half expected to hate it going in but I came out having genuinely enjoyed it and thought it was actually pretty well made, even if the acting is pretty awful. 'Cube 2: Hypercube' (2002) is what I expected the first one to be. It improves on the acting of the first one but is behind it in almost all other categories. The film follows a group of 8 people who, like in the first one, have woken up in the Cube with no idea why they are there. This group includes a psychiatrist, a private investigator, a lawyer, a video game developer, an engineer, a blind girl and an old woman suffering with Alzheimer's. This time the cube has been upgraded so now it belongs within 4 dimensions so the rooms do not exist within the known laws of physics. Escape seems impossible and the group soon start to lose their heads.
Lets first go back to the 'Cube' to show why I enjoyed that film. It was all very simple but executed well. The traps weren't especially complex but were smart. The narrative was similarly clever. It was implausible but didn't feel impossible. The set design was super simple as well. By just changing colours between rooms you new these characters had moved. All of these elements that made me enjoy the first film are absent from 'Cube 2: Hypercube'. In regards to the changing colours of the room I will say that having them all be illuminated by bright white lights works for this film. The cube in the film allows multiple dimensions and having all the cubes be this colour meant that you are able to feel as lost as the rest of the characters. But the film is needlessly complex. I understand upping the ante in a films sequel. There is no point making the same film again. But this film does it to such a ridiculous degree that I just completely checked out. Yes, the first one is implausible, but this one is just absurd. I am usually okay at suspending my disbelief but this film was just to much. Also, the traps in this film are boring and all made using CGI, none of them are practical. When the film does have practical effects they're pretty decent, but it decided to rely on CGI and it is horrendous. Genuinely some of the worst I have ever seen. It looks like it has come straight out of a bad video game, not a full blown movie. Yes, it came out in 2002 but even for the time period it is right at the bottom of the pile quality wise. There is one scene in particular that uses a lot of CGI where I was looking at the screen repeatedly saying 'oh no' in disbelief at how bad it was.
I mentioned that the acting in the film improved on the first one, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is all that good anyway. There are a couple of performances that are okay. These performances are from Kari Matchett as Kate Filmore and Geraint Wyn Davies as Simon Grady. Neither put in a career best (I mean they actually might have been, I haven't seen anything else either of them have been in) but both put in competent performances. The rest of the cast are pretty hit and miss. They are either not great or pretty awful. The people who fall into the pretty awful category are Grace Lynn Kung as Shasha, Lindsey Connell as Julia and Bruce Gray as Colonel. Thomas H. Maguire. Both Grace and Lindsey fall into the awful category due to them just having very bland and pretty emotionless performances. Their line delivery is not all that good and they are the least interesting of all the characters. Bruce Gray falls into this category for one hilarious moment. It is meant to be a moment of pure anguish but instead just looks like him having a paddy like a toddler.
'Cube 2: Hypercube' is not a good film. It ups the ante from the first one, but does it to such a degree that I found myself not caring at all about what was going and and so instantly became bored. The acting is 50/50 between fine and crap, whereas the CGI effects falls straight into the absolute shit category. With the first film surprising me so much I was actually looking forward to seeing where they would go with it's sequel. Unfortunately they went too far into lunacy and the film lost me as a result. I would not recommend it. Just watch the first one.