History Film / Cypher

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Morgan's world is an endless succession of neutral tones, by way of a heavily desaturated look.

* TookALevelInBadass: Justified. Morgan Sullivan starts out the movie as a timid, cuckolded house husband who's looking to make his life a bit more interesting by becoming a corporate spy. By the end of the movie he's sat through an intensive brainwashing session without batting an [[EyeScream eyelid]], [[ElevatorEscape escaped]] from an ultra-high security data centre and blown up a small army of {{Mooks}}. [[spoiler: Subverted in the sense that he's been a badass all along and didn't know it.]]

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The only real change from now is the introduction of the neurograph devices, and the implausible architectural structure that is the Vault.

* LivingLieDetector: Virgil Dunn. Nevertheless, neurograph machines have put him out of business.

* SpannerInTheWorks: "It's a good plan really. Except for one little detail he forgot to account for. Me."

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cypher_5456.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:So... what else do you do besides travel to dull cities and talk to women in hotel bars?]]

* SeriousBusiness: 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.

* SeriousBusiness: 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 UpToEleven. Makes you wonder what exactly those companies make.

* WhooshingCredits

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Sebastian Rooks, a MagnificentBastard who is often ruthless but capable of genuine feelings (at least for Rita), versus the heads of Digicorp and Sunway Systems who are... just your ordinary ruthless bastards. There's also the protagonist Morgan Sullivan who tries to maneuver between all of them[[spoiler:, but he's actually Rooks.]]

* BecomingTheMask: Morgan's transformation into the personality of his James Bond-esque alter ego, Jack Thursby. [[spoiler: Later subverted when Morgan is (not-really-)brainwashed by Digicorp in that his new life is just like his old crushingly boring and futile life, and not like the swish and romantic one he had invented for his first assignments.]]

* DoubleAgent: 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 [[spoiler: is.. well, let's see.. He starts as a spy for Digicorp, they brainwash him into a double agent to be planted at Sunways, but Sunways had the brainwashing sabotaged so he could be a triple spy, then he contacts Foster to become a spy for Rooks, then gets tempted into betraying Rooks for Digicorp as Rooks mole in Digicorp had planned all along, and then turns out to be Rooks himself playing all the others. So that's 6 times, a Sextuple spy. Yeah.]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler: Justified by AppliedPhlebotinum]]

* ManchurianAgent: Subverted. [[spoiler: Morgan is already an agent and requires a trigger to go back to his normal self]].

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The neurograph and Rooks' brainwashing devices.

* BrainwashResidue: [[spoiler:His affection for Rita, the newly discovered smoking habit, interest in golfing and other traits of his true identity leak into Rooks' cover identity as Jack.]]

* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Morgan starts to drink "whiskey, single malt, on the rocks" whenever he's out doing missions as "Jack Thursby" because he wants to feel like a badass secret agent, even surprising his [[spoiler:fake wife]] when he says he wants some, because apparently he didn't drank before. [[spoiler:It eventually is revealed that it's because this is Sebastian Rooks' favorite alcoholic drink. Morgan's love for it is TheConstant after his memory erasure.]]

* HenpeckedHusband: 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 [[TookALevelInBadass 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. [[spoiler:And even later, we learn that Morgan's "wife" was just one of Rooks' employees posing as such.]]
* {{Homage}}: It's impossible to do a story like Cypher without at least alluding to PKD and Film/WhereEaglesDare

* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler: Rooks' plan adapts with the varying state of the two rivalling GambitRoulette-playing technology firms and Morgan's mind. Although to be exact, it's more that the unknowing Rooks/Sullivan has his plan adapted for him by Rita, who he's no doubt briefed her on what the likely outcomes of various events will be and what do do if and when they happen.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: People keep warning the protagonist that his current employer will do this to him. Then when he decides to betray that employer and work with the one who warned him about it, someone else warns him that his new employers will do the same. [[spoiler:Doesn't actually happen to him, but it does happen with Finster and Callaway and their {{Mooks}} who, after being used to help retrieve the MacGuffin, are blown up by Rooks as he makes his escape.]]

''Cypher'' is a 2002 sci-fi thriller directed by Creator/VincenzoNatali (of ''Film/{{Cube}}'' and ''Film/{{Splice}}'' fame), starring Jeremy Northam and Creator/LucyLiu.

* FlockOfWolves: Played with. It turns out that ALL the attendants of the conferences that the protagonist visits across the country in his job as a corporate spy are also agents of [=DigiCorp=] sent to spy on their competitors. However, they're not really spies, but targets for [=DigiCorp=]'s brainwashing program.

* StepfordSuburbia: After his interview with Digicorp, Morgan drives back home to his suburban residence. The cinematography puts emphasis on the uniform sterility of his neighborhood as to why he would want to seek out a more exciting existence as a corporate spy.

* HenpeckedHusband: 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 [[TookALevelInBadass 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.

* YourCheatingHeart: 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. [[spoiler:Subverted. After discovering his real identity as Sebastian Rooks, it turns out that the women, Rita Foster, is his real lover, and his supposed "wife" was just one of his employees who he hired to play the part.]]

* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Morgan starts to drink "beer, single malt, on the rocks" whenever he's out doing missions as "Jack Thursby" because he wants to feel like a badass secret agent, even surprising his [[spoiler:fake wife]] when he says he wants some, because apparently he didn't drank before. [[spoiler:It eventually is revealed that it's because this is Sebastian Rooks' favorite alcoholic drink. Morgan's love for it is TheConstant after his memory erasure.]]

* BeneathTheEarth: The Vault.

* TropicalEpilogue: The ending scene features the protagonist and his love interest spending their time on a sailboat in some tropical location.

* FlockOfWolves: Played with. It turns out that ALL the attendants of the conferences that the protagonist visits across the country as a spy are also agents of [=DigiCorp=] sent to spy on their competitors. However, they're not really spies, but targets for [=DigiCorp=]'s brainwashing program.