Cypher

From the director of the rough diamond 'Cube' (1997) comes this punchy, demanding little sci-fi thriller. It may get ahead of itself in places and tie itself up in knots towards the bewildering finale, but 'Cypher' remains a dark slice of corporate paranoia. In a nice performance, Northam plays Morgan Sullivan, a bookish Midwestern accountant who accepts a job from Digicorp, a huge computer company. His brief is to adopt a whole new persona - that of the suave, chain-smoking, whiskey drinking Jack Thursby - and infiltrate the trade conferences of rival organisations at faceless hotels all over America. Pretty soon, he becomes embroiled in a vast conspiracy in which Alex (Liu) seems to play a pivotal role.

A deeply stylised effort, 'Cypher' looks and acts like a slice of Kubrick lite by way of Phillip K. Dick on bad trip. The paranoid tone is almost suffocating throughout, and Natali seems to delight in shifting the goalposts whenever it suits him, setting things off in a sterile, futuristic, and bleached out environment. Northam does some of his best work in years, delivering a performance which rolls around the film, using everything that Natali can throw at him. Liu is a good foil, even if she is left very much in the background.