Impostor (Director's Cut) (2002)

Philip K. Dick is one of the most respected science-fiction authors around and his work has inspired several successful movies, including Blade Runner and Total Recall. In the summer of 2002 not one but two Dick movies were up for release, the big-budget Spielberg-directed “Minority Report”, starring Tom Cruise, and this film - directed by the little-known Gary Fleder and starring Gary Sinise, who isn’t really in the same league as Cruise when it comes to box-office recognition. It is therefore unsurprising that while Minority Report eased past the $100 million mark in the US, this film was a commercial disaster. Although it’s nowhere near as good a film as Blade Runner, this is a decent sci-fi movie that deserved to do better than it did.

The basic plot is that it is now the last 21st Century and Earth is at war with a nasty technologically-advanced alien race known as the Centauri. Sinise’s character - Spenser Olham - is a top weapons designer who has just developed a new, potentially devastating weapon. However, his life starts to fall apart after government agents led by Vincent D’Onorifio’s ruthless policeman suspect him of being a Centauri android who had murdered the real Spenser Olham and taken his place. Since the only way they can prove their allegation is by pulling his heart out, he finds flight a tempting option and manages to escape into the dystopian underworld. There he must fight to prove his innocence, and try to regain contact with his wife - an idealistic doctor.

The basic plot concept is reminiscent of a dozen chase movies, and the milieu is one that is reminiscent of just about any Philip K. Dick story. The world of “The Impostor” manages to look both futuristic and run-down and the government is ruthless and undemocratic. In short, it could easily fit into the world of “Blade Runner”, and the similarities with that film are strengthened by several references, such as the use of the term “replicant” to describe the Centauri infiltrators.

Unfortunately, the chase part of the movie is not just familiar, it is also quite uninspired, although it is entertaining enough. The film was originally conceived as a short 30-minute film and the extended chase scenes seem rather predictable. The setting is possibly more interesting than the plot, while the dystopian future may be slightly cliched, it is convincingly rendered and the technology is both believable and interesting. The question of whether a dictatorial government is necessary to fight an implacable enemy is always in the background and provides some depth to the film.

Sinise is a quite good actor, and his character is likeable enough to care about what happens to him. D’Onorifio’s performance as Sinise’s opponent is possibly a bit over-the-top but it is entertaining, and allows us to see his motivations rather than just painting him as a simplistic villain. Supporting characters aren’t given much to do but perform competently enough and the dialogue is acceptable, though nothing special.

All-in-all this is a decent sci-fi film which doesn’t really do anything special but doesn’t deserve to be forgotten either, and although there are a few possible plot-holes is a much better work of science-fiction than many Hollywood Summer Science Fiction Blockbusters.

Rating : 7 / 10

DVD Review (Region 1)

Considering this film's disastrous performance at the box office, it's little surprise that the DVD release is quite basic. We get the director's cut of the film, as well as the original 30-minute version of the film, which is shorter and more to the point. It lacks some of the flaws of the long film (i.e. there's no extended chase sequence) but it also misses out many of the nice background details. The final feature is a short making-of featurette which is reasonably interesting.

DVD Rating : 7 / 10

Click here to buy the DVD (Region 2) at Amazon.co.uk

All content ©2003 William Marnoch.

Comments? Agree/Disagree with the Reviews? Suggestions? Random Ramblings? Whatever you might want to say, feel free to e-mail me at william@wmarnoch.freeserve.co.uk .