Cube 2: Hypercube Explained – Trapped in a Deadly 4D Labyrinth

Cube 2: Hypercube” (2002) is a science fiction, psychological-horror film and the second installment in the Cube film series, directed by Andrzej Sekuła. This movie is similar to its predecessor in the sense that it also features a group of strangers who find themselves trapped in a mysterious cube-shaped structure with one personal belonging. However, this time, the mathematics have gotten more abstract, pulling in theories of the time-space continuum and introducing a hypercube, which is an advanced and more complex version of the original cube. While this one did not garner as many accolades as “Cube” (1997), it still makes for a pretty interesting watch, especially when the claustrophobia and the tension surrounding the characters finally seep in. How is “Cube 2” different from “Cube”? Let’s try and unpack some fundamental questions around “Cube 2” and look at its detailed summary below.

Cube 2 Hypercube Movie Plot: Strangers Trapped in a Deadly Maze

Like “Cube” (1997), we first find a woman named Becky waking up in the Cube. Confused, she enters another room and is immediately affected by anti-gravity. We are not clear about her fate, but we can safely assume that she was killed. Now, seven strangers wake up in a series of interconnected, seemingly identical rooms with no recollection of how they got there. The rooms are plain white and have doors on each of the walls. These individuals include:

1. Kate Filmore (played by Kari Matchett): A psychotherapist
2. Simon Grady (played by Geraint Wyn Davies): A private investigator who has been hired to locate a certain Becky Young (remember the woman we met when the film began?)
3. Sasha (played by Grace Lynn Kung): A visually challenged computer hacker with a heightened sense of hearing
4. Jerry Whitehall (played by Neil Crone): An engineer with an understanding of Quantum physics
5. Max Reisler (played by Matthew Ferguson): A computer hacker and game developer
6. Julia Sewell (played by Lindsey Connell): A defense lawyer representing Izon, the company responsible for creating the Cube
7. Mrs. Paley (played by Barbara Gordon): A retired mathematician who worked for Izon in the past.

When they encounter Colonel Thomas Maguire (played by Bruce Gray), he informs them that they must brainstorm to escape this place, making us wonder if this Cube is a military experiment. Suddenly, a door starts to close in on the group, with just enough time for all of them to escape except the Colonel, whose death is then implied. Soon, Mrs Paley and Jerry deduce from the number 60659 written in every Cube that they must be stuck in a hypercube.

Hypercube Dangers: How the 4D Maze Torments Its Victims

To give you some context, a hypercube is a four-dimensional cube, i.e., it is like a square extended to accommodate a four-dimensional space; it is also known as a tesseract. Unlike “Cube” (1997), “Cube 2” (2002) makes surviving the hypercube 10x more difficult with this concept because it creates a disorienting and perilous environment where the laws of physics are unpredictable. For instance, time can move at different rates in different rooms, leading to temporal anomalies and age discrepancies among the group members.

As the group explores their surroundings, they discover that the rooms are not only interconnected but also exhibit strange and dangerous properties. When Mrs Paley opens a panel, she sees herself being killed by Mr Grady, who is then decapitated by beams. Jerry theorizes that all of them may be stuck in a cube with multiple realities, while Max and Julia quickly conclude that the cube may be playing around with them through these illusions to keep them confused. Mr. Grady reveals that he is looking for a missing woman named Becky, and it dawns upon the group that she might have been a victim of the Cube.

Soon, on hearing a noise, Sasha wakes everyone up. A square appears in the middle of the room they are currently occupying and starts growing, making a frame of sorts. This is a variation of a tesseract, and some members of the group – unable to understand what to do – flee to the adjacent room. Jerry is injured and later shredded to cubes by the rapidly growing tesseract, while Sasha and Kate are trapped in the room and separated from the group in the process.

Hypercube’s Mind Games: Fear and Paranoia in the 4D Maze

The remaining survivors are evidently riled up now as Simon, suspecting that Mrs Paley may be a spy, attacks her. Immediately, beams of light start to come out from the walls, and Simon tries to save a tied-up Mrs. Paley. Eventually, he ends up stabbing her with his knife when she refuses to let go of him. Max and Julia escape into another room with zero gravity. There’s some evidence of them being attracted to each other here, and they furiously engage in a sexual act but soon age rapidly and die.

Kate later discovers their bodies floating in the air and is shaken up by thinking about the rest of their fates. Simon, on the other hand, is starting to get paranoid. He encounters a parallel reality in one of the rooms with Jerry and Becky in one of the rooms, so he attacks them and kills them both. Only Sasha, Kate, and Simon now remain, but the mysteries surrounding the hypercube are complicated and endless.

Why was Kate killed in Cube 2?

Kate is the only one who survives the hypercube. The rest of the seven people she encounters in the hypercube die by the time it implodes. However, she comes to possess Alex’s necklace with all of Izon’s information by the end of the film, making us wonder whether the people monitoring the hypercube let her survive only to snatch away this piece of information from her. Soon after escaping the hypercube, however, she finds herself waking up in a factory-like facility where she is ultimately shot dead after Alex’s necklace is taken away from her. With her death, phase 2 of the experiment is believed to have been terminated.

Is Cube 0 (2004) a sequel?

“Cube 0,” or the third film of the Cube series, is actually a prequel to “Cube” (1997) and “Cube 2” (2002). While the first two films focus on the state of the human beings trapped inside the cube and play out like survival dramas, “Cube 0” (2004) takes place both inside and outside a cube.

How is Cube 2 (2002) different from Cube (1997)?

“Cube 2: Hypercube” (2002) is the sequel to the original film “Cube” (1997). While the original film features characters trapped in a cube-shaped structure composed of numerous interconnected rooms, some of which are booby-trapped, the design is relatively simple, with each room having a distinct, colored lighting scheme. “Cube 2” introduces us to a more complex and abstract setting known as the Hypercube, with rooms constantly shifting dimensions and portraying altered physical laws, including time and gravity anomalies. Unlike the first one, “Cube 2” delves into theories around parallel realities.

The original film’s traps were mechanical and lethal, such as razor-wire, flamethrowers, and acid sprays, while the traps in “Cube 2” are more abstract and involve the altered physical laws of the Hypercube, such as time dilation, gravitational anomalies, and optical illusions. The danger is often less predictable and more psychological. The ending of “Cube” (1997) is also ambiguous and leaves many questions unanswered about the purpose of the cube and the fate of the survivors, while “Cube 2” (2002) directs the audience to think in a certain direction.

Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) Movie Ending Explained:

The Identity of Alex Trusk Revealed

Kate soon enters a room where she is left horrified by the many versions of her own death. Sasha very convincingly tells Kate that the hypercube has a time-space distortion, and their lived reality appears to be crumbling inside it. They must find a way out, no matter what. However, Kate is curious about Sasha’s depth of knowledge about the hypercube. In a moment of panic-stricken paranoia, Sasha reveals to Kate that she is actually Alex Trusk, the original creator of this hypercube.

They go on to explain that Alex did their best to stop Izon, the production company, from proceeding with their operations on the hypercube, but to no avail. Instead, Alex was pursued by the company men so they decided to hide in one place where they wouldn’t look – the hypercube. Despite Alex’s disillusionment with the hypercube, Kate reasserts her belief that there must be a way out of it.

Kate then finds Simon, who is already paranoid. Just as Alex is claiming that they are all dead anyway and this exercise of leaving the hypercube is pointless, Simon appears from behind her and snaps her neck, leaving her instantly dead. Simon also attempts to drag Kate into another room, but Kate stabs him in the eye and leg and punches him in the leg, leaving him injured. Soon after, she realizes that the hypercube appears to be closing in on her.

Cube 2 Climax: Kate’s Desperate Escape from the Hypercube

The relevance of the number 60659 finally strikes Kate when she looks at Jerry’s wristwatch that has somehow made it into this room – it is the amount of time after which the hypercube would implode. Now, Kate must be quick and find a way out; otherwise, she would be dead like the rest of the people with whom she had started out.

She snatches Alex’s necklace, which could possibly have information on the Izon and its practices, opens a panel at the bottom of the room where she is, and slips away just in time for the hypercube to implode. When Kate wakes up, she appears to be around some members of the Izon. The setting is similar to a modern-day factory. However, as soon as she hands over Alex’s necklace to them, one of the members shoots her dead. As the Izon members leave, we are shown a report that says, “Phase 2 is terminated.”

Like its predecessor, “Cube 2: Hypercube” (2002) explores the themes of reality, perception, and the ethical implications of advanced technology on human existence. It makes us aware of the psychological impact of being trapped in an incomprehensible environment and the moral dilemmas faced by individuals involved in such experiments. In fact, one may speculate that the reality we see in “Cube 2” may be an alternate reality in itself, raising questions about the temporality of human understanding.

Read More: Cube (1997) Movie Ending Explained: Who Survives the Cube?

NOTE: In some special feature DVDs that were later released, there is a longer, alternate ending. While in the theatrical release, we blindly assume the authority members facing Kate to be Izon’s, the longer version makes it clear that the hypercube is owned and run by the government and she is congratulated on being the first survivor. However, in both versions, she is shot dead. A possibility is teased that Kate may have been caged in the hypercube for only 6 minutes and 59 seconds, participating in an experiment for quantum teleportation.

Trailer:

Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia, Letterboxd
Cast: Kari Matchett, Geraint Wyn Davies, Grace Lynn Kung, Matthew Ferguson, Neil Crone
Genre: Sci-Fi/Mystery & Thriller | Runtime: 1h 35m

Where to watch Cube 2: Hypercube