Cube (Pacific Rim?!)

[TheStarWarsTrek]

It's odd how obsessed humans are with needing to ascribe purpose to so many features of the universe which lack it.

"The universe" didn't make the Cube, people did. (Unless you want to treat it like one of those inexplicable SCP Foundation anomalies like the never ending staircase or something).

Also you could use the "universe has no purpose" or "bureaucracy" excuse to justify any sort of machine. What if instead of a death maze with an intricate code, the characters woke up to find a theme park tea cup ride where the cups are shaped like toilet plungers and shoot fire? Or a room where a pre-recorded voice lists off all the countries in the world, and every time it says one that ends in a "y" it makes a farting noise? Or a room divided in two with penguins spray painted hot pink on one side, and the other side has M & M's arranged to spell out the digits of Pi?

[CharlesPhipps]

In real life, torture exists despite the fact it gives very little actionable intelligence. The Cube is a torture device and it's a device of execution. The purpose of torture is torture and the Cube does that very well. However, I do think there's a bit more going on here because it's not just a bunch of randos thrown together.

My opinion is it's a psychology experiment as well as a form of execution.

If everyone had worked together to survive, they would have.

[clearspira]

In real life, torture exists despite the fact it gives very little actionable intelligence. The Cube is a torture device and it's a device of execution. The purpose of torture is torture and the Cube does that very well.

My opinion is it's a psychology experiment as well as a form of execution.

If everyone had worked together to survive, they would have.

That seems very likely to me. An escape expert, a doctor, a maths student, an engineer, a cop, and a guy with even greater maths talent that needs nurturing. They have all the tools they need. I don't know what role the first guy would have had but its fair to say he would have had one - he gets taken out by a trap so probably not an inside man, my guess would be lawyer, politician or even a general, someone who perhaps could have been the group diplomat.

[CharlesPhipps]

I mean, we don't know what kind of government feels like a life or death situation is worth this small amount of intel.

But it's clear these people are expendable yet also ones who COULD have escaped if not for the stress and high casualties.

[TheStarWarsTrek]

Personally I blame Vault Tec.

[Riedquat]

If everyone had worked together to survive, they would have.

That seems very likely to me. An escape expert, a doctor, a maths student, an engineer, a cop, and a guy with even greater maths talent that needs nurturing. They have all the tools they need. I don't know what role the first guy would have had but its fair to say he would have had one - he gets taken out by a trap so probably not an inside man, my guess would be lawyer, politician or even a general, someone who perhaps could have been the group diplomat.
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Only just got around to watching this review (at the time it came out I was only in the mood for something lighthearted, a possible nearby dam burst rather occupying my mind).

On this point I don't think it's fair to say they would all have survived working together - they'd first have to figure out there are deadly traps without getting caught in them, and work out the system without getting caught in more. Anyone is going to be very lucky to get that information without doing it the hard way.

The premise is interesting enough itself, and the ideas Chuck raised although it suffers from trying to give more than a tiny bit of thought to the bigger picture (and from what people are saying about the other films exploring that wasn't a good move). Maybe there couldn't have been the same film with better worldbuilding (i.e. the context it's in), and whilst that shouldn't necessarily be a complete barrier to a story it'll always suffer from it.

And "everyone dies" / "all die apart from one" films I generally find too depressing to want to watch.

[Robovski]

Thinking about it, the Cube would work very well as a Vault in Fallout (where VaultTec decided to run all of these tests on people after the end just because they could and perhaps to gain some Dr Mengele style data from it afterward.) Throw an escape artist, a student, a cop, a hippie and a man with special needs into Vault Cube and see what happens. And the original guy who died in the cheese grater? The Overseer trying to rescue them after manifesting a conscience.

There is a mod for Fallout 3 based on The Cube: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/6270/

I played it without having ever seen the movie, so that may be why I didn't connect with it much.