Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
There’s a ton of stuff I’m going to try to post this morning, and I’m going to start right here with two reviews of a film that I’m very eager to see. Vincenzo Natali’s CUBE is a fun SF piece, and a great little mood exercise. I’m curious to see what else he’s got up his sleeve. We need more original voices in SF filmmaking today, and it sounds like both of our reviewers today are quite taken with what he’s been up to.
This first guy is an occasional contributor from Germany, and he’s written a great piece for us:
Hi Harry,
It's been a while. Honestly - I wasn't too keen on having my stuff on your site anymore. The talkbacks just get in my tits. In addition, I felt treated quite unfairly (by you too, big man!), when I sent my reviews of both Jason X and Jeepers Creepers two years ago. Everybody pissed on me for having the gall to tell it ilike it is – that Jason X is a fun romp, and JC breaks apart after a brillant half hour. It's not so much that people disagree - it's that they disagree WITHOUT having seen the films. AICN must have the most psychic readers of all the movie news websites.
Today, however, I have decided to write once more, and if you want to publish this review, go ahead. Please call me "Mild Mannered Reporter".
It's rare that I feel compelled to share my thoughts on a flick with the whole world. Rare because usually nobody gives a shit, and because I watch mostly "classics" nowadays (everybody - watch "Holy Mountain", "At Midnight I'll Take your Soul", and "Harrison Bergeron"!).
Today, I have seen "Cypher". For most people, the fact that it was directed by Vincenzo Natali ("Cube"), should be enough to see it.
Do.
I won't try to be funny (even though I adore reviews like "Out for a kill"), and I'll try not to waste your time.
"Cypher" is, quite frankly, brillant film making in every respect. Imagine (I know you won't be able to, but try anyway) the themes from "Total Recall", the intelligence of "Cube", the visual awareness of "Matrix" - on half the budget of the first DUNE miniseries.
Coming out of the theatre, I felt like my mind had just been cleansed from the memory of hundreds of crap flicks I was forced to watch over the last six months. It's this epiphany that makes you think: I've just been in the presence of greatness. Like the day I watched two unknown flicks months before their release - "Reservoir Dogs" and "Man bites dog" (the dog thing was just a coincidence, really).
Yeah, I wouldn't believe it either.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you the plot, because the movie IS the plot. It's an incredibly complex and smart story, with numerous twists and turns. And two wondrous, almost forgotten traits of moviemaking: all the twists and turns make sense, the viewer is not inevitably going "oh man, you just lost me" at one point (the movie works even in retrospect!), and the ending is beautiful, uplifting - and while it is surprising, it actually WORKS (Cube, Ninth Gate, Event Horizon anyone?!)
Lemme just tell you the setup, though: in the near future, only two big software companies have survived - DigiCorp and Sunways Systems. Martin Sullivan is hired by DigiCorp as a corporate spy, to infiltrate Sunways Systems. He gets a LOT more than he bargained for...
It sounds overly simple, and that's just the point - one of the many reasons why this movie is called "Cypher". This refers to characters, the story, the whole world this movie is set it. The title may sound generic, but it is a lot smarter than you would think.
And thumbs up for not making this one of these ridiculously boring "high tech thrillers", that are all "people staring at screens, typing in passwords, mumbling 'damn, I'm in' now and then". For a movie centering on identity in a digital world, "Cypher" uses refreshingly few of the cliches we've come to expect.
Acting is flawless - Jeremy Northam again proves to be incredibly versatile, switching between charaters with amazing ease. Lucy Liu is - well, Lucy Liu really. I have never seen her play anything else than that, to be honest. But she's good at it. David Hewlett shines in a VERY disturbing cameo. And kudos once again to the hardest working actor in Canadian Showbiz, Nigel Bennett.
Apart from the story and the acting, "Cypher" really shines in the production department. For a 10 million dollar movie, it looks (excuse my French) FUCKING AWESOME. Okay, it doesn't have big action set pieces or endless chases. Not even a fight scene. But it moves at breakneck pace, and it "feels" very action packed. Every scene is lit to perfection, with ingenious use of filters and odd camera angles (looks like different film stock was also employed). The movie looks incredibly glossy and accomplished, with the production value never straining under the actual budget. In terms of CGI, we get to major pieces: a gigantic vault (wait till you see it, it's hard to explain), a snazzy high tech helicopter. The rest is done with excellent sets and flashy, but never irritating editing.
The rest of the tech credits are flawless, too.
At the end of the day, after gasping at the sheer awfulness that was "Matrix Reloaded", it's movies like "Cypher" that give me back my faith in science fiction. As long as movies like this are being made, all is not lost.
That's why I implore you - go see it, support the people who have made it. That goes for you too, Wachowski brothers!
Don't let anyone tell you "Matrix Reloaded" or "Terminator 3" is good science fiction. Apart from not being good, I'd be hesitant to even call them science fiction.
"Cypher" is the real deal.
Prepare to be stunned.
Excellent work. This next guy echoes many of the same sentiments. I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s seen it to see if there’s a consensus building on it.
Hi there,
I don't know, I just don't get it. In 1997 or 98 one movie has been all over this place: Vincenzo Natali's ingenious feature debut CUBE. Now we have 2002 and no word has yet been written on this site (or anywhere else on the web it seems -- at least not in english) about his 2002 effort called CYPHER (the IMDb says he's also just completed work on his next one, NOTHING... I'd love to hear something about that one!).
The film has been shown on several festivals all over Europe (including Sitges...) and already enjoyed a theatrical run in France. The French DVD is on its way as well as the German one. How come no one's written a review yet? Guess somebody has to spread the word:
CYPHER is a masterpiece. Maybe not as fresh and original as CUBE, but what is? CYPHER features the talents of Jeremy Northam, Lucy Liu and David Hewlett of CUBE fame as well as Vincenzo Natali's now trademark simplistic stylishness. I don't want to give away too much of the plot -- not only because it's getting pretty complicating and even confusing at times (don't worry, it all ties up neatly at the end), but also because there are lots and lots and lots of twists in there which you don't wanna know about. All you need to know is CYPHER is set in the future and Jeremy Northam plays a regular guy named Morgan Sullivan who gets himself a job as a technology spy for some company. What starts out as an exciting departure from boring normal life becomes a more and more threatening experience as extremely weird things happen and questions about Morgan's own identity arise.
In CYPHER, Vincenzo Natali deals with similar themes as he did in CUBE: the main character gets stuck in events he cannot explain. His only way out seems to just play along and deal with situations when they occur. He's a total victim of circumstance in a claustrophic world where nobody can be trusted including his own mind. Jeremy Northam, who hasn't made much of an impression on me in the past, plays this average joe character just perfectly. Lucy Liu does a decent job as well, but one of the greatest scenes in the movie is the one with David Hewlett. He's a creepy and interesting character and absolutely steals the scene away from Northam.
Another major role in CYPHER is being played by the look and feel of the film: the production design and the use uf CG is top notch, producing a similar minimalistic impression as the one in CUBE. However, this time, Natali has created a world of much grander scope, with many different locations and lots of stunning visuals (captured by Derek Rogers great cinematography), which still feels claustrophic and intimate. Michael Andrew, who did the fantastic DONNIE DARKO score, doesn't fail to deliver the goods here either.
To cut this one short, CYPHER is a perfect film, deserving to be seen by a wider audience than the handfull of people who saw it on festivals and theatrically in France. It's a damn shame that gems like this oftentimes can't seem to get a theatrical distributor (which is the case here in Germany and probably will be the case almost everywhere else, including the US) and dreck like the un-films produced by über-hacks like Paul Anderson and Rob Cohen, get full media attention. This film is from 2002 and almost nobody has noticed it yet! Believe me, it's great and Vincenzo Natali is, right next to Lucky McKee and Richard Kelly, one of the most interesting young directors working today. I'm sure, CYPHER would draw lots of (even non-geek) movie-goers to the theaters if only someone would give it a chance. Check it out if you can (next chance: Fantasy Filmfest Germany...).
Best regards,
Deine Mudder
Two great reviews, and a bit of a clue. If you know something about NOTHING... or anything about NOTHING... then drop us a line and let us know what Natali’s up to. In the meantime, thanks to both of these reviewers for their great work.
"Moriarty" out.
