Science fiction has a never-ending love affair with the concept of identity. How much of the body can one replace with cybernetics before they stop being themselves? Could a machine be programmed to mirror or become a living person? In the case of Vincenzo Natali's Cypher, can a man be convinced to become someone else?
Vincenzo Natali is and will probably always be best known for his debut feature, Cube. That claustrophobic cult classic was made for little money, but it's lived on in its surprising influence on the genre. Natali made waves again with his unfairly forgotten 2009 sci-fi horror film Splice. His most recent outing, the 2019 Stephen King adaptation In the Tall Grass, falls short of the director's legacy. Natali may still have great films in him, but his old work has a lot of hidden depth.
What is Cypher about?
Cypher follows bored everyman Morgan Sullivan. He scrapes by in a suburban home with his wife until he is laid off from his accounting job. Though his wife wants him to take a similar position with her father's company, Sullivan seeks out a new career in corporate espionage. Sullivan finds a job at a towering tech conglomerate called Digicorp. The company provides Sullivan with a new purpose and a new identity. Under the name Jack Thursby, Sullivan begins secretly recording competing corporations at conventions. While on the job, Sullivan meets Rita, an agent from a rival firm who opens his eyes to a new dimension of the occupation.
Cypher swiftly descends into an intricate web of double crossings, betrayals, and shifting motivations. Sullivan begins to suffer night terrors and chronic pain. Digicorp starts confirming the receipt of transmissions he never sent. Rita offers him a cure and prepares him for the biggest convention yet. Morgan discovers that every attendee is convinced they're the lone corporate spy for Digicorp. The company hooks up its potential spies to mind-controlling helmets, overwriting their personalities and enforcing their new identity. A rival company called Sunway offers Sullivan the chance to feed false information to Digicorp. Rita informs him that both companies are using him. It all builds to a confrontation with Sunway's ruthless CEO, Sebastian Rooks. As identities become crossed and lies fade away, the film rockets from a clever espionage thriller to a full-fledged Mission Impossible standoff.
What was Cypher inspired by?
Critics and audiences were divided on Cypher's main influences. The film is an original story rather than a loose adaptation like Blade Runner. Natali hasn't spoken at length about the forces which compelled him to create Cypher. Writer and frequent collaborator Brian King delivered the script, initially titled Company Man, months before the film's production. The film plays upon themes addressed in Natali's Cube. Though it is an original work, it does deliberately play with the expectations built up over multiple other similar sci-fi works. Contemporary critics drew comparisons to a wide variety of recent films. Blade Runner remains the primary candidate. The Manchurian Candidate was another popular option, with multiple observers calling it a modern update of Richard Condon's 1959 classic. The Matrix had recently revolutionized science fiction cinema, so many viewers saw connective tissue with the Wachowskis' films. Alex Proyas' Dark City was also noted as a possible inspiration.
Phillip K. Dick is the world's favorite reference point for stories like Cypher. Thanks to Ridley Scott's adaptation, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep remains his most notable work. Dick's unreliable narrator and unsure reality are the backbones of Natali's film. Like most of the author's classic texts, the central theme is the mystery surrounding Sullivan's identity. Humanity is malleable. Identity can be rewritten, but the simple virtue of doing what's right can defy even the most nightmarish crisis of consciousness.
How does Cypher end?
Rita helps Sullivan escape Sunway to make his appointment with Sebastian Rooks. He enters Rooks's room and discovers his own possessions, including a photo of him with Rita. Turns out Sullivan has been Rooks the whole time. Rooks and Rita are attacked by armed security agents. As they escape, Rooks digs deep to discover his love for Rita, which helps him to center his identity. Rooks leads a masterful caper, killing the security head of Digicorp and Sunway as he leaves the scene with Rita. Rooks disposes of the last copy of Rita's personality and sails off into the South Pacific with his one true love.
Cypher is a strange sci-fi thriller that plays with some familiar themes in an engaging new way. So much of the plot is delivered through subtle details that a written synopsis fails to capture the experience. Fans of intriguing science fiction should seek out Cypher. It's an unfairly underrated member of the mind-bending subgenre. The simple concept of a bored suburban man diving into the world of corporate espionage only to find that he may have been there the whole time will rarely get old.