Cypher

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.

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.

Not an original story by any mean, but the writing is solid and competent (not made by Vincenzo Natali) and the means are adequate to a low-budget movie. The acting is pretty good too! Watch this instead of Cube and you'll be happy.

Vincenzo Natali's feature debut 'Cube' was in my opinion the best science fiction movie of the 1990s. By "science fiction" I'm not meaning Star Wars style space opera aimed at 13 year olds, but mind expanding storytelling in the tradition of Philip K. Dick, Robert Silverberg and William Gibson. Or movies like 'Bladerunner', 'Brazil', 'Dark City' and 'eXistenZ', and yes (just in case you think I'm a mindless Lucas basher) 'THX 1138', a movie which Natali incidentally cited as an inspiration for 'Cube'. It's been a long wait but 'Cypher' is certainly worth it. This is a very stylized and cerebral film which Natali describes as being "Kafka meets James Bond", and he's not joking. There have been a few Philip K. Dick adaptations in the last few years but they always seem to lose the quirkiness and intelligence of his work and degenerate into big expensive action movies. 'Cypher' isn't actually based on a PKD story but in many ways it's the closest thing to his fiction yet seen on a movie screen. Apart from the two leads the cast is made up of Canadian character actors, which gives it a freshness missing from many contemporary Hollywood productions. 'Cube' co-star and long time Natali friend David Hewlett has a memorable role as the creepy Vergil Dunn, keeper of The Vault. He gives one of the best performances in the movie. Incidentally, also keep an eye out for a brief cameo by Valerie Buhagier, star of Bruce McDonald's cult favourites 'Roadkill' and 'Highway 61' in one of the conference scenes. The main stars are unusual picks. Brit actor Jeremy Northam has appeared in a few big American movies but is still pretty much unknown to most audiences. He uses this to his advantage and gives a terrific performance. I honestly can't imagine anyone else doing this difficult role any better. Lucy Liu plays the femme fatale part to perfection. Maybe she's just trying to get indie cred by appearing in 'Cypher', but who cares when she gives a good performance in a great movie. Plus she looks damn fine! 'Cube' has already become a cult favourite, and there's no doubt in my mind that 'Cypher' will do the same. I think audiences will be discovering both movies for years to come. Vincenzo Natali is shaping up to be one of the most exciting genre directors currently working and I'm really looking forward to what he comes up with next!

This is really difficult to review for me, because I want to reward a movie that breaks from Hollywood and does something different, I especially want to reward the maker of the Cube by following up with a non-mainstream Hollywood movie. It's just difficult to do with Cypher.

The movie isn't as exciting as I thought it would be either, especially after the verbal hype it received. What's even more difficult is I can't put my finger on why, there doesn't seem to be something totally tangible, it just doesn't quite hit the mark.

The premise is excellent, and there are some interesting moments and cleverly constructed twists, but there's just not enough riding on them, not enough weight to them. I did feel like I followed the film along and came out the other end appreciating what had just happened but not really affected by it.

Shame really, since it was good to see such a great performance from Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu in a different role from the usual character she keeps playing.