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Impostor (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Synopsis: Gary Sinise enters the world of futuristic action heroes in Gary Fleder's sci-fi thriller IMPOSTOR, based on a story by Philip K. Dick. Sinise stars as Spencer Olham, a weapons expert in 2079 who wakes up one morning to find himself accused of being an alien. He sets out on the run, being hunted... Gary Sinise enters the world of futuristic action heroes in Gary Fleder's sci-fi thriller IMPOSTOR, based on a story by Philip K. Dick. Sinise stars as Spencer Olham, a weapons expert in 2079 who wakes up one morning to find himself accused of being an alien. He sets out on the run, being hunted down by Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio). He receives help from an underground leader (Mekhi Pipher), and upon returning to the city, he must convince his wife, Maya (Madeleine Stowe), and his best friend, Nelson (Tony Shalhoub), that he is indeed her husband and not some kind of robot monster with a bomb in his chest. With IMPOSTOR, director Gary Fleder (DON'T SAY A WORD) has crafted an edgy, fast-paced film that contains elements of Alfred Hitchcock's THE WRONG MAN, Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER (also based on a Dick story), Andrew Davis's THE FUGITIVE, and Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP. Sinise gets to flex his muscles as he continually escapes from Hathaway and a torture device that Goldfinger would be proud of, the Vivisector. The futuristic, fascistic world created by production designer Nelson Coates and shot beautifully by cinematographer Robert Elswit is the perfect setting for this ultimate battle of man against machine, the individual against the state, love and humanity against order and militarism. [More]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Starring: Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio, Mekhi Phifer, Tony Shalhoub
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger, Mark Protosevich, Scott Rosenberg, David Twohy
Producer: Gary Sinise, Marty Katz, Amber Steven
Composer: Mark Isham
Reviews
Once the movie abandons ideas, it falls flat -- it's not well made enough to engage us with shallowness.
This potentially stylish cyberpunk movie is turned into nothing more than an endless series of tiresome chase sequences.
Originally slated as a 40 minute installment in a sci-fi trilogy film, Impostor should have been left that way.
There's one thing you can say about Imposter - it does have the appropriate title. Fleder's ill-conceived actioner flick poses as a thriving sci-fi adventure but its real identity is that of a glossy-looking, predictable lukewarm futuristic yarn.
If Sinise's character had a brain his ordeal would be over in five minutes but instead the plot goes out of its way to introduce obstacles for him to stumble over.
A worthy successor to those sci-fi B-movies of old even if it is nowhere in the league of such Dick-inspired films as Total Recall and Blade Runner.
Worth the ticket price -- mainly for the surprise ending and set design -- and most of its 96 minutes is absorbing.
An uneven look into a grim future that doesn’t come close to the level of intelligence and visual splendour that can be seen in other films based on Philip K. Dick stories.
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