Cube (2021)

Director: Yasuhiko Shimizu
Starring: Masaki Suda, Anne Watanabe, Masaki Okada

Synopsis:
A group of people find themselves trapped in a trap-laden dungeon made of cubic rooms.

Impressions:
When I saw this in the list of airplane flicks, I thought, "Huh. A Japanese remake of Cube? Neat." While the basic form of the original is replicated here, it falls short on that film's biggest charm, which was the character work. In the original, we had strong personalities that led to strong conflicts. We don't really have that here. Ide doesn't really assert himself as leader and would probably have done just as well if he wasn't carrying around all the deadweight. Goto and Ochi are both weenies, though they do develop on different tracks over the course of the film. Ando is just a grouchy old man, Uno is more of a prop than a character, and Kai might as well not be there for how little she contributes. There is at least something going on with Goto's backstory, but it's nothing that great. In the end, it's just a pale copy that fans of the Cube series might want to check out but doesn't offer much that's substantive. Just watch the original again. As for this, take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50