Cypher



Cypher is a 2002 sci-fi thriller starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu, directed by Vincenzo Natali of Cube and Splice fame.

The story follows Morgan Sullivan, a bored and henpecked house-husband who gets a job as a corporate spy in order to add some excitement into his dull routine and annoy his overbearing wife. At first he's thrilled by the prospect of creating a whole new life for himself as a "secret agent" but soon finds that the realities of the industry are somewhat less interesting - recording presentations about shaving cream distribution and consumer trends in the processed cheese market.

However, after he runs into a beguiling and flirtatious woman at a hotel bar, things take a dive off the deep end.

Beautifully shot with Natali's trademark visual flair, this was a smart low-budget neo-noir with a storyline very heavily influenced by PKD.

Not to be confused with Cypher Language.

WARNING: Colossal Spoilers Ahead!


 * Accent Relapse: Inverted; Morgan goes through a few along the course of his espionage activities due to inventing an accent for his spy persona.
 * Adrenaline Makeover: See Becoming the Mask.
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The neurograph and Rooks' brainwashing devices.
 * Badass: Sebastian Rooks, to the extent that even Finster and Callaway appear to fear him.
 * Becoming the Mask: Morgan's transformation into the personality of his James Bond-esque alter ego, Jack Thursby.


 * Beneath the Earth: The Vault.
 * Bob Haircut: Rita.
 * Brainwashed:
 * Catapult Nightmare
 * Chekhov's Armoury: See Foreshadowing below.
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Chess Motifs: Explicitly stated. Sebastian Rooks is the, er, Rook with Morgan Sullivan being the Pawn. The two opposing technology corporations, DigiCorp and Sunway Systems, are also color-coded as the opposing sides of a chess board, with DigiCorp being black, and Sunway Systems white.
 * Deliberately Monochrome: Morgan's world is an endless succession of neutral tones, by way of a heavily desaturated look
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Dunn is shown to habitually drink heavily after musing on his banishment to the Vault after neurograph machines made his job as a mole spotter obsolete
 * Double Agent: Taken to ridiculous extremes. Almost every character is a double agent, to the extent you'll be sure that even the cleaners had a hidden agenda. And the protagonist
 * Elevator Action Sequence: A vertigo-inducing maglev variant
 * Elevator Escape: See above
 * The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend: After being drawn in by her good looks, this is why Morgan begins to trust Rita.
 * Eye Scream: The brainwashing devices
 * Faceless Goons: The Sunways private army
 * Feed the Mole: Sunways' plan for Jack Thursby; see also The Thirty-Six Stratagems.
 * Femme Fatale: Rita Foster.
 * 555: Notably averted with Rita's secret number, which uses the (unused) area code 436.
 * Foreshadowing: And how.
 * Friendless Background: Morgan.
 * Gambit Pileup: Might as well be the Trope Codifier.
 * Gambit Roulette:
 * The Ghost: Sebastian Rooks.
 * Good Cop, Bad Cop: Played with with Finster and Callaway. Finster has a quietly menacing air about him from the word go, whilst Callaway is friendly and approachable when he introduces himself to Morgan.
 * Henpecked Husband: Even after he's done all the cooking and cleaning, Morgan's wife shouts at him when he tells her he's going to be working freelance instead of going to work for her father. Thankfully Morgan has Taken a Level in Badass, and he refuses to go along with her plans for him. We later see an identical situation, with "Jack"'s wife ordering him about around the house and directing his career path.
 * Homage: It's impossible to do a story like Cypher without at least alluding to PKD and Where Eagles Dare
 * House Husband: Justified in that his wife is the breadwinner, but Morgan clearly doesn't enjoy being one.
 * Locked in a Freezer: One of the first scenes where Morgan is told what the hell is going on.
 * MacGuffin: The disc from the vault.
 * Manchurian Agent: Subverted.
 * Mega Corp: Two of them, namely DigiCorp and Sunway Systems.
 * Mock Millionaire: In getting into character, Morgan begins effecting traits of a globe-trotting playboy; wearing finer clothes, indulging in top-label scotch and cigarettes, referring to exotic locations he's traveled to on his yacht.
 * The Mole: Too many to count.
 * No Budget: A film made for $7.5 million has no right to look this well-polished.
 * Oh Crap: Morgan as he's trying to escape the lift shaft, plus Finster and Callaway as they see the bomb.
 * Precision F-Strike: Don't ask Morgan to go and work for his father-in-law.
 * Red Pill, Blue Pill: "If you want answers, take the shot."
 * Secret Identity
 * Serious Business: Whatever business Digicorp is in. Yes, industrial espionage happens in the real world, but the resources spend here to spy on their competitor, and to prevent them from spying on you, are really Turned Up to Eleven. Makes you wonder what exactly those companies make.
 * Smoking Is Cool: Morgan takes up smoking as part of his spy persona.
 * Spot the Imposter: "Are you a double agent?"
 * Tomato in the Mirror:
 * Took a Level in Badass: Justified.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: The only real change from now is the introduction of the neurograph devices, and the implausible architectural structure that is the Vault.
 * Twist Ending
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * What You Are in the Dark: An interesting variant - given the opportunity to create an entirely new personality from scratch, the meek and awkward Morgan Sullivan creates the persona of Jack Thursby
 * Whooshing Credits
 * Xanatos Speed Chess:
 * Your Cheating Heart: While on an assigment Morgan tries to hit on a woman he met in the hotel he's staying at. After striking up a conversation with her, she calls him off when she notices his wedding ring, which he forgot to take off.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess:
 * Your Cheating Heart: While on an assigment Morgan tries to hit on a woman he met in the hotel he's staying at. After striking up a conversation with her, she calls him off when she notices his wedding ring, which he forgot to take off.