The Trades - DVD Review: Cypher

ARTICLE

DVD Review: Cypher
by R.J. Carter
Published: August 13, 2005

Rating:

Country: USA
Release Date: August 2, 2005
Distributor: Miramax Home Entertainment
Director:
· Vincenzo Natali
Cast:
· Jeremy Northam
· Lucy Liu
Related Sites:
· IMDb

Grade: A-

Morgan Sullivan is getting a new job: he's going to be a corporate spy for Digicorp, and they put him through a battery of tests and scans to determine his capability. A quiet, quirky fellow, Sullivan is nevertheless given the job (as well as a new identity: Jack Thursby) and is assigned to attend several intensely boring conventions and secretly record speeches -- or so he believes. But when "Jack" encounters the exotically beautiful Rita Foster, she informs him he's being brainwashed by Digicorp to believe that he really is Jack Thursby. When he follows her instructions, he begins to see behind the facade of the missions he's on as Digicorp molds him to become a corporate spy inside their competition: Sunways. But when he enters his new life, Sullivan finds that Sunways hired Foster through her boss, Sebastian Rooks, to keep Sullivan's mind free without Digicorp finding out. Their reason: to send Sullivan back to Digicorp as a spy for them.

It's a struggle for identity in Brian King and Vincenzo Natali's story of paranoia and suspense. The setting is very modern and unassuming for the most part, which makes the science fiction elements truly stand apart in Gilliamesque contrast, sometimes almost comically absurd in their juxtaposition. The story and its final twist ending completes this spy thriller of Chestertonian proportions -- in fact, the entire story may well have borne the subtitle, "The Man Who Was Thursby" in homage to G.K. Chesterton's novel of spies and spycatchers.

Flying in under the radar, Cypher is surprisingly good and should be welcomed by fans of Brazil and The Matrix. The score by Michael Andrews is hypnotically captivating, perfectly fitting the mood of the film that continues slowly building to a sudden very action-packed climax that outdoes The Sixth Sense in the "I Never Saw That Coming" department.

Previews on this DVD include Sin City, Hellraiser: Deader, Hellraiser: Hellworld, The Prophecy: Uprising, The Prophecy: Forsaken, and Dracula III. Subtitles can be toggled on for English, French or Spanish. There are no special features.