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

Pitch Black

[flikx]

Don't knock pitch black, that's really up there as far as SCI FI goes. Like Supernova and Event Horizon.

It's a sad world indeed if we expect everything to be high caliber, like LOTR and Star Wars. (hah!)

As for imposter, I swear I saw a trailer for this on some VHS movie I rented for $0.99 two years ago.

Re:Pitch Black

[Anonymous Coward]

The dealy was caused by the terrorists undertones, in light of September 11th. The original launch date was closer to then.

Re:Pitch Black

[Arandir]

I like science fiction. Unfortunately so many directors and producers figure that they can dump all the rules for making good movies just because the current flick is science fiction. They can get away with it because most people go into a scifi movie expecting cool effects and not much more.

Take your average scifi movie and take out the scifi and the effects. It sucks rocks! Ditto for Supernova and Event Horizon. I haven't seen Imposter, but I suspect that if were translated into a non-scifi fugitive movie it would be average.

Some of the best scifi movies delved deep into motivations, character development, basic human themes, etc., but did so in a way that only true scifi can do. Prime examples are Forbidden Planet and Blade Runner.

Finally Released?

[TechFire]

I distinctly remember seeing a trailer for it two years ago and thinking "Wow, that looks good." About a year later I went to the video store, but I could not find Imposter (little did I know that the film never made it to the theater).

The next trailer I saw was just last month, and it said the movie was "Coming Christmas Day".

Christmas Day came and past, and I never saw any theaters with it. Then I saw the trailer on Tuesday that said it was "Coming January 4th".

Well, after pushing back the release date 3 times it is good to see they finally got it in theaters. I can't wait to watch it.

I kinda liked it - but Dick's been done better

[_J_]

I've always liked Sinise and he was a producer for this, but it just doesn't compare to Blade Runner or Total Recall.

That being said I liked the ending. It twisted more than normal and it wasn't the usual ending. It was padded and no secondary characters were developed. I did enjoy Sinise's performance as well as D'Onofrio's. Sinise was unrelenting in his desparation and D'Onofrio was unforgiving in his tracking.

Unfortunately, I just saw Beautiful Mind last night and it just blew me away. As a result I can't say this was a good movie.

I hafta say that I just finished watching Strange Brew and I enjoyed just as much if not more. It's held up well.:)

IMHO, as per

J:)

Re:try watching channels besides SciFi network

[mshiltonj]

It is all over comedy central too. I watch that channel more than any other (by far) and Impostor is being promoed to death on that channel as well.

I would have thought comedy central, sci-fi, and dimension (film distributor) was all owned by the same company, but that is not the case, so actual money did change in promoting this movie.

Sci-Fi is owned by USA Networks (which was just bought by Universal/Vivendi, the same company that owns mp3.com)

Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, says this site.

Dimension is owned by Miramax, which is owned by Disney -- says this site and this site.

I don't watch too much tv, but you would think that Disney would plug the movie on ABC and ESPN, which it also owns, especially since they are hurting for cash right now. Why not promote in house?

How is this related to Impostor? Only tangentially. But be aware of the Big Six media companies. Three are involved in this film. It's more than six, but the other companies are AOL/TimeWarner, Sony, NewsCorp, and Bertelsmann (of Napster fame).

Others would add GE to the list, because they own NBC.

In any case, the entirety of our information and entertainment world comes nearly exclusively through those 8 companies.

Re:another phil dick movie

[limber]

As a Philip K. Dick fan, I'm disappointed that *Impostor* has turned out to be such dreck. I secretly cheer for PKD-inspired projects.

I'm not too chuffed about Spielberg's involvement with the upcoming *Minority Report* either, given the letdown of the PKD-flavoured *AI* (yes I know it was based on an B Aldiss story, but it definitely had a lot of Dickian themes -- the robot boy who wants to be real, the broken 'bots that struggle on hopelessly even when they know it's futile, etc.). Still, there's hope. At least you know there's going to be decent money available for CGI effects. :-)

As far as Phil Dick films go, I'd rate them in order of viewing enjoyment as follows (most enjoyed at top):

1. Blade Runner - what great set design!
2. Total Recall - i remember thinking, hey, was that the same actress from Action Jackson?
3. Screamers - a 'go in with low expectations, and it'll be acceptable' affair
4. *existenZ* - cheesy CanCon fluff; Cronenberg has the talent and history to do this sort of thing a LOT better (if I'm not mistaken Cronenberg actually wrote one of the first, rejected drafts for Total Recall)
5. Confessions of a Crap Artist - hey, I live in Canada, there's nowt much tae do some winter evenings...

I haven't seen *Put It In Gere*, and probably won't. (imagine that, an adult film inspired by PKD -- how's *that* for a dick joke?)

Other movies I'd claim were thematically PKD influenced include:
*Truman Show* - is it just me, or did they completely rip off the plot for this flick from *Time Out of Joint*? Truman = Ragle Gumm!),
*the Matrix* - obviously lots of fun, looking forward to the sequel.

Any other candidates?