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    In General 

In General

  • Five-Man Band:
    • There's the way they appear at first...
      • The Leader: Quentin, a cop who quickly takes leadership of the group.
      • The Lancer: Worth, a snarky and mysterious guy who seems to know more than he lets on.
      • The Smart Guy: Leaven, a mathematical genius who can do equations in her head.
      • The Big Guy: Kazan, a big unintelligible man with severe autism.
      • The Heart: Holloway, a doctor who while hysterical at times is nonetheless the heart of the group.
    • ...and the way they turn out to be later on.
      • The Leader: Holloway, whose compassion and levelheadedness make her more of an ideal leader of the group and a rival to Quentin, leading him to kill her.
      • The Lancer: Worth is the only one who occupies the same role, though he does eventually start to open up.
      • The Smart Guy: Kazan, who although dumb at first glance is actually an autistic savant who can calculate equations on his own.
      • The Big Guy: Quentin, who by this point has grown more unhinged and only able to assert his dominance through physical intimindation.
      • The Heart: Leaven, The Baby of the Bunch and the one the others all race to protect.
  • Last-Name Basis: We only get to know Worth and Holloway's first names in the movie (Leaven's first name is Joan but we never hear it in the movie itself).
  • Theme Naming: All the characters' last names are related to prisons (San Quentin, Fort Leavenworth, etc.).

    Quentin 

Quentin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quentin.jpg

Played By: Maurice Dean Wint

The leader of the gang. He is a cop and claims that he can read people's minds to tell if they are criminals or not.


  • Abhorrent Admirer: He becomes this to Leaven when he goes crazy.
  • Abusive Dad: Given his reaction to Holloway's accusation that he may have turned his temper against his wife and children, he might be one.
  • Asshole Victim: From letting Holloway fall to her death, to actively killing Leaven and stabbing Worth, he was the only one who deserved to be in the Cube in the first place and definitely deserved getting crushed between the walls.
  • Ax-Crazy: He shows his true colors as the film goes on, killing Holloway, then trying to rape Leaven and finally killing her and Worth and trying to kill Kazan when they find the exit.
  • Bait the Dog: Quentin at first appears as a brave and selfless cop who will lead the prisoners out of the Cube. It turns out he's actually a vicious psychopath with homicidal tendencies who cares only for himself.
  • Big Bad: Becomes this by default when he starts picking off the other characters, since whoever's behind the Cube is never seen.
  • Decoy Protagonist: He is introduced as the benevolent and caring leader of the group. He isn't.
  • Diabolus ex Machina: The chances of Quentin being in the room right next to the bridge room where the other characters are is about 20,000 to 1, considering that the rooms move around. Granted, they weren't bothering to be particularly quiet, so if he was relatively near, he could easily locate them - however, he had no way of knowing which rooms were booby-trapped, and was in no condition to avoid the traps if they were.
  • Dirty Cop: Is a police officer, and is heavily implied to be a domestic abuser. He also murdered three people in the film proper.
  • Domestic Abuse: It's implied that Quentin's wife left him because of his violent temper and that he was also abusive to his children.
  • Faceā€“Heel Turn: He starts off as the hero of the film, but then he starts to think that the others are against him, especially Holloway, so in the scene where she's hanging on the rope of clothes to check the outside of the building, the others pull her up. Quentin, who is at the front, holds her hand, he stares at her and then he lets her go. He then is the villain from there on forth.
  • Hate Sink: Though at first he seems a reasonable and cool-headed man who is the leader of the group, as the film goes on he starts to show his true colors. He killed Holloway, saying that she was a spy, but the others know that he did it because of what Holloway said about him (such as accusing him of hitting his wife and his kids.) He tries to rape Leaven and beats up Worth when he stops him from doing it. After they leave him, he starts to hunt them down and, though he sees the light from outside of the cube, he decides to kill Leaven, Worth, and then tries to kill Kazen only to be stopped by Worth who pulled his leg in leaving him to be cut in half by the room moving..
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: It's not hard to make him lose his cool.
  • Hero Killer: He personally murders Holloway, Leaven and Worth, in that order.
  • Jerkass: He gradually becomes more impatient and more rude to the other members of the group, insulting Holloway and Kazan, beating Worth and trying to get his way with Leaven.
  • Last-Name Basis: We never get to know his first name.
  • The Leader: He takes on this role from the start of the movie. Later loses it after he kills Holloway.
  • Manly Tears: He actually cries when it looks like the group has been going in circles and that there is indeed no way out of the Cube.
  • Properly Paranoid: Suspects Worth of having some connection to the Cube and is proven right.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Tries to inflict this on Leaven, which causes him to be ejected from the group.
  • Sadist: Not too obvious, but it's there. He fakes trying to save Holloway when he could've just dropped her right away, and in the climax he toys with Kazan before trying to kill him with his bare hands.
  • Sanity Slippage: He wasn't exactly stable to begin with, but as the movie goes on, he becomes more unhinged.
  • Scary Black Man: He isn't that intimidating at first, but as the film goes on he becomes more violent and paranoid.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: By far the most profane character in the film.
  • Stupid Evil: Had he simply let the others escape instead of stopping to murder Leaven and Worth he could have made it out of the Cube alive.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Starts having one shortly after he murders Holloway. He first starts by claiming she must have been a spy, and then claims he can read people's minds, and eventually just becomes a roaring lunatic who the others have to escape from. Finally at the end, he manages to find them, but just stabs Leaven and tries to kill the others instead of even bothering to go through the exit that's right there.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about this guy without revealing his ultimate role.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He slaps Holloway in the face in a fit of anger. He also literally stabs Leaven In the Back.

    Leaven 

Leaven

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leaven.jpg

Played By: Nicole De Boer

The youngest and the brains of the operation. She can multiply numbers in her head, as the only way to get through the rooms is if the numbers of the small tunnel of each doorway is a prime number.


  • The Baby of the Bunch: She's younger than every other characters and a college student who doesn't have much life experience. Though she matures quite a bit throughout the movie and the role eventually falls to Kazan.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's initially pretty mean to Kazan. Later, she warms up to him.
  • Likes Older Men: Dialogues imply that Leaven harbors a mutual crush towards Quentin. That attraction pretty much disappears when Quentin starts acting like a maniac.
  • The Smart Girl: She studies math and is the one who decipher the numbers.

    Worth 

David Worth

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/worth.jpg

Played By: David Hewlett

The one guy who everyone is suspicious of.


  • Anti-Hero: At first. He gets better though.
  • Big "NO!": When Quentin kills Leaven.
  • Butt-Monkey: As the film goes on and Quentin loses his cool , Worth becomes Quentin's punching-bag and way of testing the rooms.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He is very sarcastic during the first part of the film, making fun of the already desperate situation.
    Quentin: Get over there and help her with him. That's your job: baby-sitter.
    Worth: (with a German accent) Jawohl Kommandant. (salute)
  • The Dog Bites Back: After being Quentin's punching bag he finally fights back by pushing the door against his head which leaves him choking for breath and tricks him by using one of the floor doors to leave him in another room.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Even after Leaven dies, Worth decides to stop Quentin from escaping even if it means he's going to die too, saving Kazan.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While originally being depicted as very sarcastic towards the other members of the group, showing insensitivity towards Rennes' death and mocking Quentin for having hope to escape, he ends up helping them, and shows concern and kindness towards Leaven and Kazan. He even sacrifices himself to allow Kazan to escape.
  • The Lancer: To Quentin, who he constantly butts heads with, though their relationship is considerably more hostile than most examples of this trope.
  • The Leader: He becomes this after Quentin loses it with him helping Leaven and Kazan to get out of the cube and saving Kazan from Quentin when he tries to kill him even willing to leave himself trapped in the cube as a result.
  • Laughing Mad: Has one when rediscovering the corpse of Rennes.
  • Made of Iron: He suffers the most non-lethal damage throughout the movie but still moves with the rest of the group. It's eventually lampshaded by Leaven, who comments on how many lives Worth has used by that point.
  • The Reveal: He's actually the designer of the outer shell of the Cube.
  • Straw Nihilist: Quentin even lampshades it:
    Quentin: Somebody has to take responsibility around here.
    Worth: And that somebody has to be you.
    Quentin: Not all of us have the luxury of playing nihilist.
    • And several dialogues too:
      Quentin: Why don't you tell us what your purpose was?
      Worth: I often wondered that myself.

      Worth: I wasn't exactly bursting with joie de vivre before I got here. Life just sucks in general.

      Quentin: For Christ's sake, Worth, what do you live for? Do you have a wife, or a girlfriend, or something?
      Worth: Nope. I've got a pretty fine collection of pornography.

      Worth: You think we matter? We don't.

      Worth: I have nothing... to live for out there.
  • Together in Death: With Leaven.

    Holloway 

Helen Holloway

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/holloway_5.jpg

Played By: Nicky Guadagni

A free clinic doctor. She shows herself to be very hysterical and rants about conspiracy theories. She takes care of Kazan.


  • Conspiracy Theorist: She was one before entering the Cube and thinks that it was created by the government using their taxes.
  • The Heart: She's the most morally balanced of the group and refuses at any moment to leave Kazan even if it slows them down.
  • Large Ham: She shouts, a lot.
  • Mama Bear: To Kazan.
  • The Medic: She treats the wounds of the members of the group, and later takes care of Kazan.
  • Properly Paranoid: "I WAS RIGHT! NO-ONE'S GONNA CALL ME PARANOID AGAIN!".

    Kazan 

Kazan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kazan.jpg

Played By: Andrew Miller

A man with severe autism.


  • All-Loving Hero: Despite everything that Quentin has done to them, Kazan tries to comfort him when it appears that all hope is lost.
  • Cerebus Retcon: The prequel implies that he was actually one of the observers managing the Cube until he became a victim himself, and that he isn't autistic- he's been lobotomised.
  • Character Tic: Being autistic, he twitches his fingers and starts tapping his head with his hand if something distresses him.
  • Disability Superpower: He has severe autism, but can serve as a human calculator. It also counts as an 11th-Hour Superpower.
  • Final Guy: He's the only one of the group to survive to the end and ultimately escape from the Cube.
  • Nervous Wreck: Spends much of his time as a twitching and whimpering mess. Justified, as his autism makes it harder for him to cope with the extreme circumstances he's in.
  • Sole Survivor: Only he makes it out of the Cube with his life.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: He really likes chewing gum and gumdrops.

    Rennes 

Rennes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rennes.png

Played By: Wayne Robson

A French escape artist nicknamed "The Wren" who escaped seven prisons.


    Alderson 

Alderson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alderson.jpg

Played By: Julian Richings

The first victim.



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