Cube 2: Hypercube [DVD] [2002] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

But whereas "Cube" was grounded in reality to the extent that if you had the money and the resources you could create a maze like that, "Cube 2: Hypercube" goes the science fiction route where the laws of physics do not apply, especially to the laws of time and space. Consequently, this 2002 film from director Andrzej Sekula does not really qualify as a sequel because except from the notion of the cube maze and one character's complaints that there are no numbers and that the first one had rules, there is nothing that really connects the first film with this one. That cold, hard fact is reinforced by comparing the conclusions to the two films, which try to play with the audience's minds in totally different ways. No wonder so many people are bitterly disappointed when they see this one. I did not care that the first film did not provide answers to wrap everything up, and I was rather insulted by what "Hypercube" tries to pawn off on us in its place at the end.

The alternative hypothesis for watching this film is that if you are like the characters in the film who are smart enough to have a reasonable but convoluted explanation for what is going on, then you may be able to appreciate this film on a level that most of us are just not going to be able to access. For that matter, if this was the first "Cube" movie it would have picked up another star. The tag line in the trailer for "Cube 2" is "There are no rules," which makes it clear the makers of this film are only too happy to embrace the idea that they have thrown out everything that made the original film so engrossing. The creative death traps that were in some of the cubes were what gave the first film its edge, but here we have some weird entity whose setup is not worth the payoff.

The characters are similar to the first time around, although there are more of them so that the potential body count can be a lot higher, which is not really a good thing given that we have lost the creative ways of meeting death in the cubes from last time (you can see how impossible it is to judge this film without using the original as the frame of reference and the standard for condemnation). In "Cube" there were some interesting character dynamics going on and we had the feeling that the maze was more a psychological test than anything else, where the trapped humans were the key resource needed to get out alive, but too many of them were busy losing it to work together successfully to get everybody out alive. At least in the first film if you did not like a character there was the possibility of a gruesome death involving razor wire or other interesting things. No such luck here.

I should have known this film was in trouble as soon as I saw the inside of the first cube, which was bigger, brighter and cleaner than the smaller, darker and dirtier cubes of (altogether now) the original film. Maybe their big mistake was in thinking that using the same cube again would not go over with fans. Let me just say I think they were wrong. I am going to be watching "Cube Zero" next and I have to admit I am apprehensive because I have to be open to the possibility it could be even worse than this one. Maybe, if I am lucky, I can pretend "Cube 2: Hypercube" never took place and pretend "Cube Zero" is the true sequel.

If you are a physicist and actually like what they say is going on in this film, then you will probably enjoy the DVD extras here. You have a director's commentary by Sekula that goes along with the documentary on the special effects, both of which will give you a better idea of what is happening in the film than watching the film itself. One of the problems with this film turns out to be that they were driven by what neat CGI effects they could come up with more so than by the story (another big and classic movie making mistake). You also get some deleted scenes (including an alternate ending which adds insult to injury because it tries to insist that there is a logical connection between the two films even if we ordinary folk are too stupid to figure it out), several trailers, storyboard and stills galleries, none of which will help you like "Cube 2: Hypercube" more than "Cube."