Cypher

Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is a newly hired employee of DigiCore, a dominating megacorporation competing with rival company Sunway Systems. As an agent, his mission is to attend conventions located around the nation and record the speeches there discreetly. Once he starts his new job, however, things start to spiral out of control. Rita Foster (Lucy Liu), a mysterious woman who seems to show up everywhere, warns Morgan of impending trouble. As he delves deeper and deeper into the secrets of DigiCore and Sunway, Morgan must evade capture and possible death while finding out the truths behind the many mysteries controlling his life.

Cypher is a film by director Vincenzo Natali, also known for filming the sci-fi thriller Cube. The film is set in a futuristic dystopia, and the setting is suitably bleak. Close-up shots and an overall gray color contribute highly to the film's washed-out, machine-like nature. Throughout the film, twists and turns keep the plot going, and you are never sure of what exactly is the truth. The idea of agents, double agents, and triple agents is complicated (perhaps even unnecessarily so), and the breakneck pace never lets up.

The scope of the story is small. The film is primarily driven by the plot, and the ending feels a little too neat to be realistic. Nevertheless, the rest of the movie is engaging enough that the suspension of disbelief required for the end is acceptable. Overall, Cypher is an extraordinarily addicting film, filled with convoluted plot mechanisms that keep coming.

Rating: (8/10)