Cypher

Cypher is an entertaining but irritating film. Nothing in the film is exactly as it appears, and the film reads a lot like a Dean Koontz novel . It's premise is ridiculous, and none of the characters are particularly believable, but you still feel compelled to go on because you sense that something clever is afoot. Indeed, something clever is going on here, but most alert and intelligent viewers will see each plot twist coming, and will feel (at least through most of the film) that they have seen it all before. In my opinion, Cypher is worth watching anyway - if not simply for its occasionally gorgeous photography then for its original and interesting finish.

In fact, nothing about the film itself is really what it appears. It poses as an independent project but obviously sported a sizable budget, and drew the backing of some attention of some big names. It appears to be a sci-fi film, but it's really just a pedestrian spy thriller with a few sci-fi elements tossed in to differentiate it slightly from the dozens of similar films that have been made in this popular genre.

Likable Lucy Liu plays her usual role - an ambiguous heroine who could be a savior or a slayer for Jeremy Northam - a man who has been reprogrammed, brainwashed, and seems on his way to hell with a one way ticket. Northam plays a man without a fixed identity . He is a corporate spy who has been so badly used that he no longer knows who he is and who he is working for. Yet the film only superficially resembles The Bourne Identity. To its credit, Cypher offers some amusing parodies of itself and its ilk very early on. Northam makes the film with an evolving, highly dynamic, and often annoying performance - playing a character who is, in fact, at least three different characters.

Though Cypher is somewhat predictable in terms of action and events, it is never exactly made clear what is motivating everything until the very end. And, in the end, the payoff is worth the sometimes aggravating pace and superficiality of the film.

Morgan Sullivan is a businessman who, rather than work for his father-in-law, takes a strange job working as a corporate spy for a company called Digicore. His assignments are simple and boring; attend a conference and use a covert device to transmit the speeches back to HQ. At one conference he meets a mysterious woman called Rita and flirts with her. On his flights and during his sleep he is bothered by vivid dreams and voices in his head; he thinks nothing of it but then his next meeting with Rita reveals something much more sinister than the basic assignments he thought he was getting and he soon finds himself in deep.

I had never heard of this film at all before watching it, nor did I even know anything about it whatsoever and I only ended up watching it because I had FilmFour free one weekend and this was one of the few films that they showed that was worth seeing. I'm glad I came to it with nothing because I found myself engaged from the start and the twisty plot was great fun even if the final five minutes could never have hoped to have delivered above and beyond what had come before. There are those that complain about the ending being "terrible" are perhaps being too harsh although I will acknowledge that it is a bit too tidy for its own good. The plot requires a lot of suspension of belief (and I mean a lot) but once you get into it it moves along really well and does keep you watching to see where it goes. It is helped by the way that it starts out in a "normal" world that many of us will relate to – boring business presentations and conferences that you wonder why you bothered. If you can keep up with it from here on then it is enjoyable even if logic and sense.

Visually the film really works even if the budget constraints are clear here and there. Director Natali injects a lot of style and imagination into it and also delivers a real sense of urgency and paranoia that helps the material work. The cast are a mixed bunch, although in this sort of film the characters tend not to be that well developed in all parts. Northam takes the lead role and does it well, making his character a drag little everyman but also convincingly changing him gradually across the film. Lucy Liu is not as good; she is a bit flat but fortunately she has limited screen time and was only what I'd call really bad one time. The support cast are all OK, delivering the required mix of the ordinary and the sinister to good effect even if they are all pretty straightforward.

Overall this is a nice little thriller in the style of things like Usual Suspects, Memento and the like. You do need to suspend belief and, if you can, it is enjoyably twisty and slick and is pretty exciting. Of course if you dislike the genre (the sort that has to keep moving for fear of getting caught by its own lack of logic) then you'll hate it but everyone else should at least get a fun 90 minutes from it.

When The Matrix appeared in 1999 and questioned existence and identity, it was expected that a lot of movies would use it as inspiration. That didn't really happen, surprisingly, and it took till 2002 for a movie of similar theme to appear. But to say Cypher is a clone would be to its discredit.

The story is of a Morgan Sullivan, who applies for a job with a high-flying techno-company called Digicorp. His job is to be a spy and gain information about a rival company, while under an assumed and false identity. His home-life is perfectly normal but he has to lie to his wife about what he's actually doing. However, things start to take conspirital turns and before he knows what's going on, he starts to question who he actually is. This is not helped by a strange woman who turns up...

Twists and turns at every direction keep you absolutely fascinated, and at no point does anything ever seem contrived or unbelievable.

It's an enthralling journey through a not-too-distant future, and with good acting all round will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Highly recommended.

There was a stylish approach to this film on the part of director Vincenzo Natali with interesting camera angles and effective close-ups. It was also refreshing to see Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu given leading roles and expanding their range as performers. This film also included one of the most imaginative "escape" scenes in recent years. The efforts of the director and the actors combined in an effective thriller.

Although the plotting of the film was convoluted, the story progressed very clearly as the layers of corporate greed and skullduggery were revealed.

In 1949, George Orwell suggested in his famous novel "1984" that the future would be ruled by the totalitarian State, which would control minds and diminish human liberty. It was interesting that in this intriguing futuristic film, it was not the State, but rather the corporate world that controlled and devalued the human worker.

It's not the kind of movie that's trying to knock your socks off...but it is a wonderful example of small-budget scifi done very well. Watch if you like scifi and don't really need the big hollywood treatment.