Cypher: Movie & DVD Review (2002)

(Originally published 2002)

High style and noirish overtones about mind control and brainwashing in corporate America. Nothing new there, so nothing new here.

The film comes from Vincenzo Natalie, whose 1997 film, "Cube," was a slick underground hit. Here, the director reaches for a challenge and finds it; he seems to be going purely for mood, with the story getting in his way.

Jeremy Northam takes the lead as Morgan Sullivan, an unhappy computer geek with an unpleasant homelife who needs a jolt. He gets one at Digicorp, the mysterious company that hires Sullivan to be a spy at other companies. Soon, the geek glasses are off and Sullivan is smoking, literally, with Lucy Liu as the femme fatale with the pixie haircut he tries to pick up at a bar.

What they find in each other is attractive sterility heated by Liu's ferocious glare. Echoes of "The Manchurian Candidate" abound, but the film never goes deeper than, say, "Total Recall." Originally released in 2002, but only just now finding its way onto a stripped-down disc.

Grade: C+