Cube Zero
In this third installment of the "Cube" series, the nature of the cube is finally explained: the cube is run by men behind the controls, operating all that occurs to anyone within it. But when one of the men (named Eric) working behind the cube sees that there is one woman (known as Rains) who catches his eye. This prompts Eric to question the disappearance of two of his coworkers, who don't seem to have returned from a very long absence. When Eric goes down to try and help the woman escape, he ends up trapped within the cube. And to make matters worse, the superiors of the cube send an unorthodox man named Jax to sort things out. The other worker (named Dodd) behind the cube tries his best to stop Jax from finding Eric. But time grows short, and Dodd can only do so much to save his friend and the other victims of the cube. And so it remains up to Eric to team up with both Rains and Haskell, a hostile victim of the cube. But there are many dangers up ahead.
NEW SYNOPSIS
Unlike the other films in the trilogy, Cube and Cube 2: Hypercube, the story of Cube Zero is observed from both the interior and the exterior of the cube.
The film focuses on a Cube technician, Eric Wynn, and Cassandra Rains, a woman placed in the Cube. The film starts with a man, Ryjkin, trying to escape from the Cube. He is sprayed with liquid in one of the cubes, but he believes it is only water. However, when he rubs the back of his hand he realizes that his body is disintegrating. Eric is watching this in an observation room with his co-worker Dodd. Afterwards, Eric is shown to be sketching a portrait of Dodd (in the form of a superhero called Chessman), whilst playing chess with Dodd, who has a chess board in front of him which Eric is not looking at. After Eric wins, he asks Dodd questions about their missing colleagues, but Dodd tells him not to ask too many questions or get involved with the occupants of the Cube.
Both Eric and Dodd get an order from "upstairs", which asks them to record the dream of a subject, Cassandra Rains. In her dream, Eric sees that she was captured, while walking in a pleasant forest with her daughter Anna. After waking, Cassandra meets the other occupants of the Cube. One of the males placed in the cube, Robert Haskell, has a tattoo on his forehead like the soldier that captured Cassandra. However, Haskell, like everyone else, has no recollection of his former life. According to what Eric knows, everyone in the cube was facing a death sentence and were presented a choice: go in the Cube with their memory wiped or be put to death. Only if a person signs the consent form will he or she then be placed in the cube. Eric finds out that Cassandra has no consent form and argues with Dodd that they should inform the people "upstairs."
Just when he is about to make a call to the superiors, the phone rings. They are instructed to perform the "exit procedure" for a subject who has reached the exit of the Cube and is facing his final challenge. They see that it is one of their former colleagues, Owen. During the exit procedure, Owen is asked if he believes in God, and when he answers no, is immediately incinerated. Eric argues with Dodd over the fate of Owen. Eric realizes the Cube is inhumane and decides to enter the cube to help Cassandra escape. Jax, one of the Cube's supervisors, and two of his analysts come to stop Eric from helping Cassandra. Despite their efforts to stop them, Eric and Cassandra make it to the exit room with the help of Dodd, who sabotages the control panels servicing the cube and pays with his life at the hands of Jax. The sabotage causes the cube to go into "reset mode", which vaporizes any living body inside the Cube after a limited period of time.
Once Eric reaches an "exit room", they escape using a secret auxiliary exit. However, soldiers searching for them have already arrived. Cassandra manages to escape, but Eric is shot by a dart and passes out. Eric wakes up in a surgery room and confronts Jax, who reveals that Cassandra may have gotten away, but Eric had been found guilty of "high treason" and "sabotage" against "country and God." He has been sentenced to "two lifetimes" and will be implanted with a brain microchip. Jax claims Eric has already been convicted in a trial. Jax shows him his consent form and says he had been put in the Cube as an observer. Eric dreams about Cassandra reuniting with her daughter and praising Eric as "a superhero." Eric is then given a lobotomy, to eliminate his intelligence. He is later shown to be inside the cube with several others.
This links it to the first installment of Cube, where there was a psychologically challenged character who had preferences for rooms of certain colours.
