Cube: Difference between revisions

''Cube Zero'' was slightly different from the original two movies in that it also dealt with some people on the outside of the cube whose job it was to control the cube and oversee those within. It also attempted to answer some of the questions of the series.

 

 

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* [[Anyone Can Die]]

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]:

** In ''Hypercube'', Max calls the rest of the group crazy for even considering that space and time could be distorted in the cube (despite repeatedly witnessing things that are physically impossible, such as the rooms instantaneously moving around) and argues that there has to be a logical explanation, such as an optical illusion. At the same time he berates the others for not believing in his conspiracy theories, and is convinced that the cube is operated by a mysterious superhacker called Alex Trusk.

* [[Ax Crazy]]: {{spoiler|Quentin}} in ''Cube'', {{spoiler|Simon}} in ''Hypercube''.

* {{spoiler|[[Door to Before]]: A rare movie version of this; justified because the rooms move around. ''Hypercube'' does this [[Time Travel|even more confusingly]].}}

* [[Empty Room Until the Trap]]: Played straight by almost every room in the series, but for some unexplained reason averted in the room that killed {{spoiler|Meyerhold}} in ''Cube: Zero'', which still contains the "remains" of multiple people.

*** [[Fridge Logic|But none of the other trapped rooms had people in them. Why was this the only trap that killed not one, but multiple people? For that matter, if there were corpses in the room, why did more people keep going in?]]

**** [[Fridge Brilliance|The trap didn't trigger until the door was closed. An entire group tested the room, thought it was safe, then all went in.]]

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: the survival rate in the series' entries is, successively, 1:0:2.}}

* [[Living Labyrinth]]: The Cube once again.

* [[The Maze]]: The whole point of the series.

* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: Also the whole point of the series.

* [[Ontological Mystery]]: Aside from being a basic survival story this is ''the'' major plot point of the movies, particularely the first one, although the sequels adhere to this progressively less and less.

* [[Room 101]]: While never specifically revealed, there is some speculation that the cube is one of these. Even if you manage to live through the [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|deadly deathtraps of death]], the massive psychological horror experienced within might make you wish you hadn't. {{spoiler|And that's only if the people ''outside'' the cube don't immediately kill you.}}

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: Across the series:

** In the original ''Cube'', {{spoiler|characters are repeatedly set up as heroes in an escape for their lives from a mechanical maze, but they all end up dying or being killed by another character, except for [[The Rainman]] character. He would be the only person who could sound the alarm or summon help, but would not be able to communicate the situation, assuming he understood it at all}}.

** ''Cube Zero'', a prequel to ''Cube'' shown from [[POV Sequel|the point of view of the maze operators]], reveals that {{spoiler|the savant was in all likelihood killed by the operators moments after the first film's ambiguous ending due to a cryptic line near the start of the movie. It also turns Rains manages to escape, but will continue to be pursued until recaptured. Wynn is lobotomized and thrown back in the Cube like many Cube "Operators" before him. Everybody else dies except for the villains}}.

* [[Sinister Geometry]]: And the Cube again.

 

 

** {{spoiler|Rennes}} combines this with [[Foreign Cuss Word]].

{{quote| "Merde."}}

* [[Laughing Mad]]: Worth, briefly, upon {{spoiler|rediscovering Rennes's dead body}}.

* [[Location Theme Naming]] / [[Meaningful Name]] / [[Theme Naming]]: All the characters are named after prisons. Quentin is named after San Quentin State Prison in California, Holloway after the Holloway Prison in London, Kazan after the prison in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Rennes is named after a prison in Rennes, Britanny, France, Alderson after the prison in Alderson, West Virginia, and Leaven and Worth after the prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. The characters themselves reflect the prisons in their traits. Kazan (the autistic man) is a disorganized prison. Rennes (the "mentor") pioneered many of today's prison policies. Quentin (the policeman {{spoiler|who eventually goes [[Ax Crazy]]}}) is known for brutality. Holloway is a women's prison. Alderson (who is killed before even so much as seeing another human being within the cube) is a prison where isolation is a common punishment. Leavenworth runs on a rigid set of rules (Leaven's mathematics), and the new prison is corporately owned and built (Worth, hired as an architect).

* [[Meaningful Echo]]: Partway through the movie, Quentin says "Trust me on this. It's my job to read people like an x-ray." This is later echoed as "{{spoiler|Try and see what I see. How my mind works. The flash when I look into someone's head like a ''fucking x-ray''}}!", turning a previously innocuous line into proof of {{spoiler|[[Sanity Slippage|just how crazed and delusional he really is]]}}.

* [[Moral Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|Quentin}} crosses it in-universe when he allows {{spoiler|Holloway to drop to her death}}, then goes even further along when {{spoiler|he tries to abandon Worth and Kazan, tries to rape Leaven, and violently beats Worth with a boot}}. It is after this that Leaven refuses to go anywhere near him.

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Averted, as at least one character takes a leak in a corner.

* [[Psycho Party Member]]: {{spoiler|Quentin.}}

* [[Sarcastic Devotee]]: Worth.

* [[Scary Black Man]]: Quentin. While being moderately black, he is very scary.

** As Worth is explaining to the group that the Cube isn't part of some evil scheme or government conspiracy, he tells them "[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|Big Brother isn't watching you.]]"

* [[Spikes of Doom]]

* [[Take My Hand]]: Subverted. As {{spoiler|Holloway}} is lowered into the unthinkable abyss outside the cube by the other characters, using a rope made of their clothes, the structure shakes and everyone drops the rope. She begins to fall and {{spoiler|Quentin}} is the only one who quickly manages to grab the slipping rope, almost getting pulled down himself. He then manages to pull back all of the rope and grab {{spoiler|Holloway}}'s hand, {{spoiler|but just as she lets out a sigh of relief his smile turns to a psychopatic stare and he drops her}}.

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: The movie ends just {{spoiler|as the lone survivor has found the exit and manages to escape}}. To twist the knife further, {{spoiler|he's [[The Rainman]], and so severely mentally disabled that he would be unable to tell anyone what he discovered}}. [[It Gets Worse]] when you realize that according to ''Cube Zero'', {{spoiler|Kazan started the incident as one of the Cube ''operators''}}, meaning he's known from the first second {{spoiler|[[Nightmare Fuel|just how fucked up the monstrosity was]].}}

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Averted, as most characters will drop F-bombs when adequately frustrated, but as for Holloway...

{{quote| '''Holloway:''' Cats! Holy, holy cats!}}

* [[This Is Reality]]: "This isn't a game, Kate. There is no happy ending."

* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Pretty much every character during the "let's go around the table and introduce ourselves" scene.

 

 

* [[Food Pills]]: The only foodstuf the technicians seem to be provided with.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: {{spoiler|By the end, staying in or around the cube becomes this to Wynn. He actually tries to get himself executed by making it clear that he chooses death over the cube, but he doesn't get a choice in the matter - he already waived this right a long time ago, which he simply doesn't remember. He's lobotomized and thrown back in}}.

* [[I'm Melting]]: The unlucky bastard in the opening. He enters a room, and is sprayed with a substance which he thinks is water, since it is odorless and doesn't do any immediate harm. It takes a minute before his body tissues suddenly begin to dissolve into a bloody pile of bone and liquified guts.

* [[Large Ham]]: The villains, particularely Jax.

* [[POV Sequel|POV Prequel]]: {{spoiler|Kazan from the first film}}.

* [[Red Right Hand]]: Jax has a cybernetic implant fitted where his right eye used to be. It's never shown or explained what abilities it gives him; it's only ever used to identify him as a villain.

* [[The Virus]]: Another strain of necrotizing faciitis is injected in to a character, who, in her death throes, claws at another character, which infects him with the same condition.

* [[Where It All Began]]