Film Review: Impostor (2001)

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(source: tmdb.org)

Philip K. Dick was one of the most popular science fiction authors in Hollywood, thanks to his works serving as basis for some classic or commercially successful film of that genre, like Blade Runner or Total Recall. But not all adaptations of Dick’s work were successful. One of such examples is Impostor, 2002 film directed by Gary Fleder.

The plot, based on eponymous 1953 short story, is set in the year 2079 AD. Earth is involved in relentless war with a genetically superior race of aliens from Alpha Centauri who destroyed many colonies and forced the government to put most of Earth cities under the protection of electromagnetic fields. Spence Olham (played by Gary Sinise) is a scientist working on a superweapon that would turn the tide of war. One day he gets arrested by security service agents led by Major Hathaway (played by Vincent d’Onofrio) and charged for being Centauri “mole” – cyborg who killed the real Olham and took over his identity in order to assassinate Earth’s Chancellor (played by Lindsay Crouse). Olham denies the accusation and uses the opportunity to escape, after which he will hide underground and run into the street criminal Cale (played by Mekhi Phifer). He asks Cale for help and. He would receive it in exchange for druges from the hospital where Olham's wife Maya (played by Madeleine Stowe) works as a doctor. With Cale’s help, he is going to conduct a test that should prove that he is indeed a human being and not alien impostor.

The first thing that can be noticed about Impostor is that the film is unfinished. That is due to it be initially conceived as one of the three short film that were to form an ambitious science fiction anthology film based on classic science fiction stories. But the two other segments were never made and producer instead decided to expand Impostor into feature film. Because of that Impostor has an intriguing start and a pretty interesting (though not so unpredictable) finish. What comes in between is series of action scenes that looks shovelled into a film without thought, and which turn this film into a pathetic copy of Fugitive. An additional problem that plagued the producers was the lack of budget – a number of the scenes was “ borrowed” from earlier science fiction films such as Starship Troopers, Gattaca and Armageddon, and the futuristic megalopolis where most of the action takes place does not look larger than one town square. Things aren’t helped by clumsy direction by Gary Fleder which insists too much on “cool” angles and less on on-screen events being comprehensible to the adueinece. Even otherwise reliable character actors like Gary Sinise and Vincent d’Onofrio disappoint in main roles, and general impression is, only at times, saved by their colleagues in minor. Impostor failed at the box office and in most international markets appear only in video stores. Those who watch it would hardly be surprised.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

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