Cypher (film)

Cypher (also known as Brainstorm and Company Man), is a 2002 science fiction spy-fi thriller film directed by Vincenzo Natali and written by Brian King.

The film follows an accountant (Jeremy Northam) whose sudden career as a corporate spy takes an unexpected turn when he meets a mysterious woman (Lucy Liu), uncovering secrets about the nature of his work.

At a bar, Morgan meets Rita Foster from a competing corporation, who offers him pills and tells him not to transmit at the next convention.

Sunway's Head of Security, Callaway, encourages Morgan to act as a double agent, feeding corrupted data to Digicorp.

Rita and Morgan escape to the roof of the skyscraper as the security teams of Digicorp and Sunway meet, led by Finster and Callaway.

After a short Mexican standoff both sides realise they are after the same person, Sebastian Rooks, and rush to the roof, where they find Morgan and Rita in a helicopter.

Finster and Callaway comment as the couple seem to have escaped: Looking up, they see the helicopter hovering and realise, too late, the true identity of Morgan Sullivan.

[3] Derek Elley of Variety called the film "consistently intriguing" and "100% plot driven" with excellent performances from the cast,[4] while BBC's Neil Smith compared Cypher to The Manchurian Candidate, and noticed feelings of tension and claustrophobia, as in Natali's directorial début Cube, finally concluding that "Natali seeps his yarn in an Orwellian atmosphere of paranoia.

"[5] Scott Weinberg, reviewing for DVD Talk, recommended the film, calling it "one of the best direct-to-video titles [he has] seen all year", noting similarities to The Matrix, Dark City and the works of Philip K.

[8] John J. Puccio, writing for Movie Metropolis, thought that "[Cypher's] corporate espionage plot doesn't prove simply too complicated, it ends up downright muddled", but concluded that the film was nevertheless "still kind of fun".