Cypher (2002)

After recently watching the amazing Gattaca I was searching for a similar technothriller. A quick search on IMDB suggested I should check out this 2002 movie in which Morgan Sullivan (Jeremy Northam) is leading a normal and boring life. He is looking for a challenge and a certain thrill. He gets to opportunity to apply for a job at one of the two biggest companies in the country. His work? Industrial espionage, which would allow him to travel a lot away from his nagging wife. He is hired and is sent to various conventions, having to sit through endless and boring presentations which he has to secretly record and send back. When he meets the mysterious and very attractive Rita Foster(Lucy Liu) she shows him that the work he is doing might not be what he thinks it is and that a whole other reality is hidden behind it.

As Sullivan starts to find out what he has gotten himself into he struggles with the question who to believe and trust and decide what is true. Which decisions should he make?
Cypher is a wonderful thriller in which reality isn’t always what it seems to be. The story takes the viewer, together with Sullivan, on an adventure in which you have to stay focussed. The world of Cypher is one in which espionage seems to be the most important thing with the two companies trying to gain an edge on the other in order to dominate the marketplace. As the movie progresses Sullivan is like Alice in Wonderland, slowly disappearing further into the rabbit hole. The question is where he will end up and what he will discover.

The journey full of plot twists takes keeps you interested as you traverse a maze of brainwashing, security and distrust which Sullivan tries to escape which his only support seems to be Rita Foster. Although it does not reach the heights of Gattaca is a very enjoyable technothriller worth seeking out.