Riding the wave of escape rooms success, that have been around from a while, this film tries to exploit it and give to viewers some thrills.
For those who they never heard about it, here a brief explanation, even if the name is quite clear: you are locked in a room, usually with one or more people, clues are hidden inside it and will have to be used to find the key to go out in a fixed time.
In this film six strangers are together playing this game thanks to a mysterious cube received via mail, once the puzzle contained in the same cube has been solved they receive an invitation and try to win $10,000.
This was the general plot, but from this point on you will inevitably find some spoilers, if you haven't seen it yet I warning you not to continue reading this article.
The six participants just arrived in a big building waiting in a room thinking they are in a reception but soon they will discover that they are already inside in the game, that catches them completely by surprise since they are not given what they normally are indications of guide voice, which helps the players in case they get stuck in following the clues to exit.
The first room will be a series of riddles that will not only lead them to leave the room but enter in another one, all this with so much fire, real fire, as they seriously risk to die, despite that they arrive in a second room from ventilation pipes, some of them underestimate the danger by claiming that everything is normal.
From the second room they go out very quickly to enter the third, which however is not a room but a frozen courtyard from which they will come out in smaller numbers than when they entered, the film it starts to look like acclaimed films of the caliber of The cube and Saw, comparisons with historic films that have launched many after them and who have rarely stand comparison.
Once the message is understood, the film turns out to be quite repetitive and despite the participants deaths it's also quite soft as there is no splatter mood.
I will not tell you about the ending because the film, although it is fairly obvious but at the same time pleasant enough watching, gives some interesting ideas, that one of the game developed in a better way and without too many bulky comparisons would have been a more appropriate choice, a shame for the final, as I was saying before, that manages to disappoint a lot because it is quite simple and hasty.
In general, is saved in corner thanks to the beautiful sceneries and special effects, the plot slips away quickly but falls into some banalities that any navigator movie watcher will have already seen elsewhere, resulting fairly trite.
