Review: Impostor

Slashdot author Chris DiBona took the afternoon off to watch the lightly promoted new Sci-Fi movie "Impostor," which was based on the Philip K. Dick story of the same name. In short, it's a nice bon-bon of a film with solid effects so long as you don't expect too much from it.

Before I get started, it should be pointed out that managing expectations is very important when going to see a movie. If you go into this movie expecting a "Blade Runner" or an "Alien" you probably won't be so happy. If you go into this expecting a "Screamers" or "Pitch Black" however, then you'll probably enjoy the hell out of it.

"Imposter" stars Gary Sinise as an Oppenheimer-like weapons researcher named Spencer Olham. He's working on creating a superweapon to unleash upon an alien menace originating from Alpha Centauri. Frankly, watching the movie, we're getting our asses kicked, with human society devolving into a fascist state huddled under energy domes for protection.

The aliens, however, really aren't the focus of the film, which is neither good nor bad, as they aren't really central to the plot. Sinise's character Olham is picked up by the government as he is suspected of being an alien replicant instead of the real Olham, with the additional feature of a bomb in his chest designed to go off when he meets with the Chancellor of Earth. After being picked up and taken to an ominous interrogation center to be killed, he manages to escape to the dead zone between city-domes, a dystopic scene of poverty and the overlooked. Within the zone, Spencer convinces the streetwise Cale to sneak him back into the city to meet up with his wife, Maya.

I don't want to go much further into the actual plot of the film, as it doesn't really matter that much. It's fairly predictable but enjoyable. The IMDB entry for "Impostor" notes that this was originally one part of a three-part movie that was expanded to fill the full length of this film. There does seem to be a bit of padding going on, like the exploration of Cale's motivation for helping Olham sneak back into the city where Olham's wife Maya (played by Madeline Stowe) works. In the end you don't mind because the padding is well done and entertaining.

The effects are enjoyable in a "look it's a cool city with ships flying around all over it" way and the cast is much stronger than you'd expect in this kind of movie, but not too much. I did feel that Vincent D'Onofrio was probably not very well cast in his role as Major Hathaway. Mr. D'Onofrio is the kind of actor that when he has the right role really shines (his work on Law and Order, for instance). But still, even ill-placed, he's enjoyable to watch.

To wrap up, "Impostor" is a decent flick worth your $5.75 matinee price while elongating your lunch hour and definitely worth taking the time to watch on cable, although the effects would not be as enjoyable.

Comments

Re:Pitch Black

[chrisd]

I actually wasn't knocking it. I liked it.

another phil dick movie

[mlas]

I just saw the trailer for Minority Report which looks like a better bet for Philip K Dick fans, despite the presence of both Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. Is it just coincidence that both of these are coming out at the same time?

I beg to differ... I beg to differ back.

[Transient0]

> Every review except this one seems to agree
> with me (unfortunately, I didn't read them
> before going to see it.)

I went to see this movie about three weeks ago with a friend who had advance tickets. It was probably the first movie i had seen in years without knowing ANYTHING about it(i didn't know it was a sci-fi movie until i saw the space ships). I had absolutely no expectations of the movie and was surprised by how much i liked it. A couple of the characters are a bit cliched(okay, all of the characters are a bit cliched), but still, it's a good story. I really liked the way the protagonist had done nothing wrong so you sympathize with him, but still the audience is left totally in the dark as to his status and doesn't know whether or not to secretly root for the bad guys.

i don't really have anything bad to say about this movie.

try watching channels besides SciFi network

[Doktor Memory]

Other than a massive airtime buy on SciFi (which, given that 80% of their commericials are for their own shows, probably cost about $1.89) and a few other minor cable channels, real-world promotion of this film has been zilch.

Worked on it

[benh57]

I worked on this movie. It filmed at Raleigh studios in Manhattan Beach (south of LAX) where they took over several stages between Nov 99 and Feb of 2000.

The set was huge, and pretty amazing. They built the entire subway inside two sound stages, along with some sci-fi buildings (the hospital).

Apparently they had distribution problems which prevented its release. We also worked on Evolution, which started filming several months AFTER Impostor finished, but obviously was released a while ago.

Bad Movie

[lynuhx]

This is simply a bad film. If it weren't for the special effects, that incidentally only show up primarily in the beginning of the film, this would be a "B" grade film. All of the running around in the so-called Dead Zone did nothing to further the plot made thin by the obvious padding. This could have been a good short subject if it were limited to the elements essential to the plot. Sadly, Sinise (one of the Producers of the film) saw fit to expand it into a bomb. Don't bother renting it, as it will likely be rendered to tape and DVD quite soon.

Outer Limits episode...

[nettdata]

While I'm too lazy to go look it up, it should also be noted that this story was also adapted to a 1 hour episode of the Outer Limits.

It was thoroughly enjoyable and was extremely well done. Quite frankly, I was rather skeptical about the chances of it making it as a full-on in-theatre movie.