Michael Mendez Been waiting a while to see this psychological sci-fi thriller of a man named (originally) Morgan who find himself undercover doing a risky job for a more bigger corporation.I think the cinematography, done by Derek Rogers, was excellent. Really was experimental in a way. I liked a lot of the fish-eye shots and ones where the frame was off its axis.The acting is probably what brought it down the most. I have seen director Vincenzo Natali's Cube, which obviously didn't have the strongest of talent in it, but they story made it all worth watching.**Same with this film! The story is beyond our comprehension. I'd say that it is not as simple as Cube, but it definitely has more are to branch out to and discover.-- Michael MendezP.s. - Goodnight

blanche-2 I don't see a lot of science fiction films. I found "Cypher" both bizarre and interesting. It was made in 2002, and, 12 years later, Lucy Liu looks exactly the same -- great.Jeremy Northram plays Morgan Sullivan, a bored suburbanite, who takes a job as an industrial spy for a company called Digicorp, an international computer corporation.His job turns out to be not that exciting at first. He attends conventions, records the deadly dull speeches, and hands in the discs. When he encounters Rita Foster (Lucy Liu), he finds out there's much more to the job. As he gets more involved with what he's doing, he encounters brainwashing, playacting, and danger.Everyone except for Liu in this film is pasty-looking with bloodshot eyes and bags under them, photographed with a fish eye lens, to indicate that they are all pretty much zombies at these conventions. The color is sort of a no-color muted color. Nearly everyone speaks as if he's a computer-generated voice, but a good one, not the robot type.Thus, one immediately is aware of the world we're in, and it's a perilous, fast-moving one where one doesn't know whom to trust, if anyone. The denouement puts a human face on what all the running around and corporate stealing was about.Northram and Liu are attractive, and the people surrounding them -- Nigel Bennett, Timothy Webber, et al. are appropriately sinister. Definitely worth checking out.

David_Brown I really liked this movie despite NOT liking Sci-Fi or Lucy Liu. This is a very interesting film, with lots of tricks involved, but Love overcoming all. Spoilers Ahead: It is where Jeremy Northam plays two very different roles: Uber Spy Sebastian Rooks, and average person, Morgan Sullivan. Rooks has himself brainwashed into believing that he is Sullivan, so he could infiltrate and steal computer software from two companies named Digicore and its rival Sunways Systems. These two companies with that software, basically can brainwash people into believing anything. His real goal was to get the power for himself, and sell it to the highest bidder. One actress that I cannot stand is Lucy Liu (except in this movie), she plays a Femme Fatale named Rita Grant, who you have no idea is out to help or hurt him (of course, you find out she is his only ally)). I like he way you see Northam go from weak businessman to much stronger person (even his face changes), as the Rooks Character starts to take over. To me, the most interesting part of the movie, was the final several minutes, where Rooks set things up to kill the Heads of Security at both Companies, and even created a program where he (as Sullivan), is supposed to "Kill Rita Grant With Extreme Prejudice." The way the movie ends is that although the Sullivan Identity shoots her, he cannot kill her, and although Rooks still some of the characteristics of his previous life (drinking fine whiskey and smoking (which is what Sullivan did not do)), it is the Sullivan Identity (the one who loves Rita), that takes over. In fact, on a sailboat, both Rita and Rooks/Sullivan see the disk that gave that order that "Sullivan" could not carry out, because the "Power Of Love" was Greater. 9/10 stars

lemon_magic I'll admit that "Cypher" almost lost me in the first 15 minutes - it dragged a bit, Jeremy Northam's character was almost completely uninteresting, I found Lucy Liu a turn off, and I wasn't looking forward to investing the time or the mental energy to watch these uncompelling characters work through whatever huge plastic hassle the plot was going to provide.But I knew the director was capable of interesting, quirky work ("Cube" and "Splice" take the viewer in some novel and uncomfortable directions), so I came back to this movie the next day and picked up where I'd left off, and (as they say), my patience was rewarded.We (the audience) seem to up to our nostrils these days with movies about evil all powerful monolithic corporations and their various shenanigans, but as far as these things go, "Cyper" is pretty fair. Things look pretty good when they need to (for instance, Digicorp's huge underground "datavault"), and the depiction of how the brain-washing is managed is really creepy, and the action sequences manage to be reasonably exciting and grounded in physical reality.Also, Northam shows his acting chops as his character morphs quite believably from a nerdy salary man to a far more dynamic and impressive man of action in the course of events. His performance is worth the price of admission. I can't really say the same about Liu (I'm not a big fan, although I liked her in "Kill Bill" and "Charlie's Angels"), but she's a pro, and she does that thing she does as usual, and it works OK.I guessed the ending about 2/3rds of the way into the movie when it became apparent that the plot was really about the identity of the mysterious "Brookfield", but that's OK. And the director, for once, actually let us have a relatively happy ending.Good movie, worth your time if you have a couple hours to spare and like this kind of thing.