review(s) of 'impostor'
i finally got around to watching this after recording it off showtime's "beyond" channel screening a week before (though, i had seen it before way back just after it was first released). among all the bad reviews of it, i found one that's not as hypercritical (and i'll post it here), but i think the film is far more intelligent and viewer-worthy than a lot of others (including many veteran, professional movie critics).
i like the middle portion of the movie - even though it's obvious that it's been "fleshed out" for the screen from the short story that p.k. dick wrote. you've got to give cinemagoers some entertainment with their food for thought. this certainly is no "blade runner"; but it's no "total recall," either. i particularly feel that there's a carthasis at the climax which brings home a message imbedded in the author's story that the future of humanity (on earth) may be dark, but it's not absolutely without light.
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Impostor
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
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United States, 2002
U.S. Release Date: 1/4/02 (wide)
Running Length: 1:36
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, sexual situations)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Seen at: Hillsborough Cinemas, New Jersey
Cast: Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tony Shalhoub, Mekhi Phifer
Director: Gary Fleder
Producers: Gary Fleder, Gary Sinise, Marty Katz
Screenplay: Caroline Case and Ehren Kruger and David Twohy, based on a story by Philip K. Dick
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Music: Mark Isham
U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films
Generally speaking, science fiction writers embrace one of two views of the future: the Utopian or the Orwellian. For Philip K. Dick, who penned the short story "Impostor" in the early 1950s, the political climate of the time (the Cold War and the dawn of the Atomic Age) shaped his grim view of what was to come. To date, a number of Dick's writings have been adapted into motion picture form - most famously "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (which became Blade Runner) and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (which became Total Recall). Now, along comes Impostor, a movie that is much closer to the latter than the former in both creative accomplishment and narrative strength. Like the Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster, Impostor mistakes mindless, repetitive action for plot development, and, while it has some nice special effects shots, its look is dwarfed by the artistic vision that dominated Blade Runner.
Impostor was originally designed as a 40-minute short (to be one-third of a two-hour trilogy). This full-length version, which is more than twice the initially conceived length, includes too much obvious padding. The movie starts out and finishes strongly, but, in between, there's nothing except a great deal of running around in dark tunnels and badly lit corridors. Clearly, not a lot of money was spent on this production, but that shouldn't be a barrier to quality storytelling. Arrival, the Charlie Sheen-against-aliens movie, didn't cost much, but was enjoyable. Impostor wears out its welcome by the half-hour mark, and doesn't do anything to stir things up until the climax. You could spend the entire midsection of this movie in the bathroom and not miss much.
Gary Sinise (who was one of the film's producers as well as its star) is fine as Spencer John Olham, Impostor's protagonist. Of course, the role doesn't strain Sinise's considerable acting ability, but I suppose he deserves a break from playing weightier parts. The year is 2079 and Earth is at war with the "genetically superior" aliens of Alpha Centuri. Olham, who is a genius working in weapons design, is targeted for assassination by the enemy. Their intention: kill him and replace him with a replicant who looks and acts perfectly human but has a bomb embedded in its chest that can cause mass destruction. The military, in the person of Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), is convinced that the Centurians have succeeded. Olham believes he's still the man he always was. And his wife, Maya (Madeleine Stowe), doesn't know what to think. So, with Hathaway's men in pursuit, Olham joins forces with a mercenary (Mekhi Phifer) and heads for the hospital where his DNA records are kept so he can prove his innocence.
The film's strength is that, like Hathaway, Maya, and Olham, we don't know the truth -- whether Olham is a human or an android. In Blade Runner, you can have it either way (depending on which version of the film you choose - the original or the director's cut), but there's only one interpretation of what happens in Impostor. However, while this question is compelling, the movie chooses not to dwell on its consequences or the implications for the man who may not be who he thinks he is (the idea of a missing "soul" is briefly mentioned, then discarded). Instead, we are forced to endure the endless wandering through gloomy places. Someone should remind producer/director Gary Fleder that, while so much darkness might be great for atmospheric thrillers like Kiss the Girls, it doesn't work well with a would-be science fiction extravaganza.
To be fair to the film, it's not nearly as bad as most early-in-the-year science fiction movies are. (Remember Supernova? How about Virus? Or Deep Rising?) The suspenseless action becomes dull through repetition, but there are a few moderately diverting subplots and the storyline eventually gets somewhere, although it takes twice as long as necessary to arrive at that point. The distributor, Dimension Films, clearly has no faith in Impostor - their decision to dump it into a saturated marketplace with virtually no advertising is tantamount to throwing the towel in. So, most people who see Impostor will probably be taking it off a Blockbuster shelf. And, as a video rental, this film will probably play a lot better than it does at the local multiplex.
© 2002 James Berardinelli
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gregory 81410.