Impostor

2001 "In the Future, not everyone is who they seem to be."
Impostor
6.1| 1h42m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 03 December 2001 Released
Producted By: Dimension Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.

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SnoopyStyle In the future Earth, Spencer (Gary Sinise) and Maya Olham (Madeleine Stowe) are a professional couple. He's a top secret weapons designer. She's a doctor at the hospital. Earth is at war with yet unseen aliens from Alpha Centauri. Force shield domes protect the cities from the Centaurians. As Spencer is walking with friend Nelson Gittes (Tony Shalhoub), Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio) takes him captive. Three days earlier, intelligence intercepted a Centauri transmission with a target list. Spencer is suspected of being a perfect replicant of the real Spencer with an undetectable U-bomb in his chest. Hathaway claims that there is no way to distinguish the difference but Spencer declares that there is a medical test. Before Hathaway can do his terminal test, Spencer manages to escape. Bandit Cale (Mekhi Phifer) makes the fugitive his prisoner.The premise is not the most logical. It seems like a convoluted way for the aliens to deliver the weapon. There are much better ways to give this premise a twist. Outside of this, the movie is a lackluster futuristic Fugitive. It's a dark cheap unimaginative world. By the time Cale shows up, I got bored with the whole enterprise. The ending simply puts a cherry on this bland sundae.
Tss5078 Impostor is one of the lesser known stories by the master of Science Fiction, Philip K. Dick. It is so unknown, that one of his biggest fans, didn't even realize that this film was based on a story by Dick, until I saw it in the credits. As usual, the story is out of this world, as it takes place in the distance future, a future where the Earth is at war with an alien species. This species has the ability to clone humans in such a realistic way, that it is nearly impossible to detect them. Special military investigator, Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), is tasked with figuring out who has been replaced. On the eve of a big announcement by the President, Hathaway intercepts a transmission claiming that her top military adviser, Dr. Spencer Olham (Gary Sinise), has been replaced. When Hathaway confronts Olham, he claims to have no knowledge of this, and unlike previous replicates, he has memories. As Hathaway prepares to eliminate Olham, he escapes to the surface, where he teams up with the exiled citizens who live there. Together they try to prove Olham's innocence, while avoiding being captured by Hathaway. Vincent D'Onofrio stars as Hathaway, and much like his role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent his intensity and determination are infectious. He's paired with Gary Sinise, an actor I'm always disappointed to see in a leading role, and whom always manages to surprise me with a great performance. He isn't what I'd call an action star, and may not have been ideal for the role of Olham, but he was very believable. Impostor was only one of Dick's short stories, but it is every bit as good as his better known works, which of course include; Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report. If you want to see a unique story that blends Science Fiction, Drama, and Action, look no further than Impostor.
Blueghost I tried watching this film, but instead had it on the background as I found it cliché on a number of levels. A future Earth is in the throes of a military conflict with another world; Alpha Centauri, and the methods of war know no rules; all's fair in love and war, as the saying goes. When conventional means and methods fail to breach Earth defenses, more subtlety is called for.I had a hard time with this film because it portrays one cliché after another; a future fascist like Earthly society where people live a regimented lifestyle where things are either drab gray or in black and white. There is no hope when war is waged, is the message here, and the action sequences to inject energy into this film are taken from all the other formulaic films that have been in the theatres over the last twenty years. Guns, martial arts, super-spy devices, pseudo-SWAT behavior, the list goes on and on of one action film cliché after another. The only thing missing was a car chase.The actors did a fine job. You can't fault them. The story by Phillip K. Dick was an interesting premise, and I think it works too. But the art direction and screenplay needed major adjustments, as well as some of the general direction. In short, the man guiding things behind the camera is not a sci-fi film maker, but an action film maker in Hollywood styleings given a sci-fi script to shoot.To me this film comes across as an elaborate episode of CSI with a dash of a futuristic war to set the stage. I never got the sense that I was experiencing a future society so much as an alternate reality with the notion of a war tacked on as an after thought to give the story plausibility. And, again, we have space Nazis; Hollywood's favorite fetish for bad guys on the big silver screen, including a reference to "storm-troopers" Might not the Centauris just be aliens who want something we have? That's pretty much why wars are fought. And did future Earth have to have their version of fascist society? Could there not have been lots of free people just wanting to throw off the threat of the aliens? But no. Instead we get the evils of fighting for survival alongside your fellow man against an exterior threat because, hey, what civilization would take things from an innocent people?The director tries to give us an anti-war film with all the espionage intrigue and unhealthy paranoia that he can muster, and in a loose dramatic vein it almost works. I got myself a cut rate used copy, and I'm glad that's all it was. I would have been highly disappointed had I paid a full ticket price to sit in a theatre to watch this thing. Highly disappointed. If you like noire-ish futuristic films, then maybe consider seeing this. But, be warned, where this thing wanted to "Blade Runner" it winds up being more like "Streets of Fire" in terms of philosophical vision by the director; i.e. one cliché after another.Watch at your own risk.
Sean Curtin Seriously, this is terrific Sci-Fi and oh what an ending. Superb.Considering the budget, I felt this movie was fantastic. The actors all perform really well and without a doubt the Philip K Dick in this movie shines through, ever so true to his vision.A movie I will want to watch again with friends who haven't seen it.Sadly this movie fell under the radar, which is a shame as it's 3 times the movie that say Paycheck was.Well worth watching.Terrific twists and it really drew you into the story and the universe.Recommended even if you only see it the once. If your a Philip K Dick fan, your going to really enjoy this movie.