Cypher - Didn't 'South Park' do this?

'Cypher' was released in 2002.  I can't remember whether that was before or after 'South Park' did an episode where a shady organisation kidnapped the boys' games console.  Naturally, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman set out to get it back, only to find they were being deceived all along and were really working for the people who took their GamesSphere.  Believe it or not, that's basically the premise of 'Cypher.' I don't know which came first, but I couldn't watch 'Cypher' without thinking of 'South Park.'

In 'Cypher,' a man (Jeremy Northam) has to retrieve a secret disk from a shadowy organisation, or is it really that covert?  Is it really HIS organisation who are the bad guys?  Along the way he's helped (or is it really 'hindered?') by a sultry secret agent played by Lucy Liu.  She doesn't have an awful lot to do in the film other than look good and play the part of someone who may or may not be an antagonist.

This is probably one film where you actually have to watch it all the way through and suppress your desire to check your smart phone every few minutes.  If you skip a scene you'll probably wonder why the people you thought were the good guys are now trying to kill our hero, or someone you thought was one person actually turns out to be another.

It's one of those films where, if you can suspend your disbelief long enough, you'll probably have a good time.  There are some nicely creepy scenes in here and, although the whole thing isn't really anything new, it's atmospheric enough to be worth a watch - especially if you can find it on a streaming service.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that