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CypherFive years on from his cult Canadian sci-fi film debut Cube, director Vincenzo Natali returns with this more pedestrian, but no less enjoyable, identity thriller set in a near-future world of corporate intrigue and espionage.
Jeremy Northam stars as Morgan Sullivan, a suburban accountant so fed up with his life of grey flannel suits and spreadsheets that he jumps at the chance to become a corporate spy. Despite being sent off to attend some of the most boring conferences in the universe, Morgan revels in his double life until he meets Rita (Liu), a glamorous conference guest who claims that things are more complicated than they seem. Drawn into a web of deception and paranoia, Morgan has to question his very identity in order to survive.
Beautifully shot by cinematographer Derek Rogers in desaturated grey-metallic colours that recall Andrew Niccol's Gattaca, this disorientating film makes no apologies for its hardcore sci-fi approach, explicitly cribbing from authors like Philip K Dick and William Gibson and films like The Truman Show and The Matrix. While the script ties itself in knots in the third act, taking us so far through the looking glass that we end up in the narrative equivalent of a hall of mirrors, Natali's direction is first-class.
Natali creates a believable future world without recourse to expensive special effects, while coaxing excellent performances from Northam as the worm who turns and Liu (a revelation) as his femme-fatale saviour.
It may not have the originality, or startling bleakness, that characterized Cube, but until Natali gets around to making the sci-fi masterpiece his fans believe he is capable of, this is good enough to be going on with.
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