Cube (2021 film)

Cube is a 2021 Japanese science fiction horror film written by Koji Tokuo and directed by Yasuhiko Shimizu. It is a remake of the 1997 Canadian film of the same name, the first film in the Cube series. The film stars Masaki Suda, Anne Watanabe, Masaki Okada, Hikaru Tashiro, Takumi Saito and Kōtarō Yoshida. It was released in Japan on October 22, 2021.

Plot
A man wakes up in a room, with hatches that connect to rooms. Several spikes come out from behind him.

Three people (Yuichi Goto, Chiharu Uno, and Shinji Ochi) wake up in a room having no memory of how they got here, nor do they have their belongings. Another man named Hiroshi Ide jumps in the room and a woman named Asako Kai joins them shortly after. Ide opens a door on the ceiling, where the first man's body falls through. Ide warns the group that some rooms have traps set off by different sensors. The group passes from room to room. They meet a man named Kazumasa Ando who joins them. Goto and Uno notice a plate with 3 different numbers between each room.

The group enters a room where their only option is to go through the door. Goto freezes on top of the door in fear, causing Ide to push him aside and open the door and letting the group escape. Uno has memorized the numbers between the rooms and uses a button to write on the floor. He thinks that rooms are indicated by having numbers on their plates. They soon meet a room where all rooms are trapped. Ide discovers one room that has a sound-activated trap and persuades the group to pass through without making any sound. Ochi's boot falls in the room and makes a sound when Ando is still inside, and he is saved in spite of an injury. Ando is enraged and berates Ochi.

Everyone is confused when they enter a room that is trapped, despite the plate not having any numbers. Ando is horrified when they enter the same room with the first man's body and thinks they have gone in circles, but Ochi thinks that some rooms will move and switch position. A tremor causes Uno to fall into a room while he is analyzing the plate. Goto and Ide jump in to save him from the trap. Ide is killed when he is unable to escape the room in time. Goto discovers that the numbers on the plate indicate coordinates with the aid of Kai and they could use this knowledge to find the exit, and where some rooms will move. They walk into a room where bars shoot up from the ground and separate Ochi and Ando from Goto and Kai. Ando decides that he and Ochi will find the exit themselves and bid the group farewell.

Goto and Kai find a screen in a room that shows one of Goto's memories involving his late brother who committed suicide before his eyes. Goto tries to take charge of the other two after having a breakdown. Ando keeps berating Ochi, who is becoming more unhinged. Ochi bashes Ando's head in with a door until he is an unmoving mess. Uno calls Goto a coward for not saving his brother and threatens to jump in a room, but Goto saves him at the last second. Kai then mentions that they have reached the edge, and they see that the maze of rooms is encased in a shell which has an opening, which they think is the exit.

They meet up with a blood-stained Ochi who says that Ando died in a trap. When the group express suspicion of him, Ochi forces all of them into a room and admits that he killed Ando before he then attacks Goto with the intention of killing him and his friends. Goto manages to fend Ochi off before he is brutally killed by the trap. Uno and Kai escape to a room that will soon move to the exit with Goto sacrificing his chance to ensure the two make it and is left in the room with the trap. Uno escapes the cube, and Kai sends him off while insisting she will stay behind to look for more survivors. Uno wanders into a passageway with a light up ahead. Goto falls into another room and gets up, determined to escape. Kai is revealed to be an android or cyborg that was monitoring the other survivors as subjects before finding another group and saying the same line she said when she met the previous group.

Cast

 * Masaki Suda as Yuichi Goto, a 29-year-old engineer. He is based on David Worth from the original film.
 * Anne Watanabe as Asako Kai, a 35-year-old mathematics teacher. She is based on Joan Leaven from the original film.
 * Masaki Okada as Shinji Ochi, a 31-year-old freeter. He is based on Quentin McNeil from the original film.
 * Hikaru Tashiro as Chiharu Uno, a 14-year-old middle school student with autism. He is based on Kazan from the original film.
 * Tokio Emoto as First Man, an unnamed prisoner. He is based on Alderson from the original film.
 * Takumi Saito as Hiroshi Ide, a 41-year-old mechanic. He is based on Rennes from the original film.
 * Kōtarō Yoshida as Kazumasa Ando, a 62-year-old company executive. He is based on Dr. Helen Holloway from the original film.

Production
Filming took place in October and November 2019.

Critical response
James Marsh, writing for the South China Morning Post, gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, and summarized: "The movie is so repetitive and sluggish, and the characters so insufferable, that being stuck in the deadly cube might seem preferable to watching it."