“Cube” is one of those films that builds up to a lot and then doesn’t amount to anything. It is arguably a sci-fi film and potentially a horror flick but it is definitely a mystery movie. While the film leads you into thinking it is going to be an intelligent picture, it fails as soon as begins to embrace the clichés of the horror survival genre and slasher films.

Several strangers wake up inside a cube-shaped room. They soon discover they are trapped in a maze containing seemingly endless cube-shaped rooms but some of them contain deadly traps. The group must work together in order to evade the traps and find a way of escaping this nightmarish scenario.

Films such as “Cube” require interesting characters and strong performances if they are to work but unfortunately this film does not deliver. Nicole de Boer arguably gives the best performance and she’s pretty bad. Maurice Dean Wint is awful as Quentin. Probably the most annoying character is doctor and conspiracy theorist named Holloway (Nick Guadagni) and I also really dislike the mentally-handicapped Kazan (Andrew Miller “Nothing”). The characters try to figure out if there is a reason why they are all their together and ask each other about their jobs and if they have any skills but they never seem to wonder why the mentally-handicapped guy is there and let’s just say that he turns out to be somewhat important.

“Cube” is a disappointing movie because it successfully manages to create some genuine suspense. By the last act of the film, the characters are needlessly bickering as they are seemingly on their way to escaping and one of them has turned into killer. Also, I was disappointed with the traps in this film because while some of them look interesting, the characters mainly just avoid the rooms containing any hazards. I’d imagine most people will want to stay away from “Cube”.