In the near future, weapon maker Spencer Olham (Gary Sinise) is accused of being an alien android with an implanted bomb. The oppressive government has no conclusive test to determine if he is an android, as he wouldn’t know himself, so orders him executed. Olham escapes to prove who he really is.
Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick (who’s works are also the basis for Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report), I have to wonder if it isn’t time to find a new author to pilfer. The story has androids and uncertain identity and a man, claiming his innocence, being chased by an obsessed agent. That’s what you’d get by combining the three other movies I listed. It’s not a bad story, but I’ve seen it too many times. Gary Sinise has no problem with the part of a scientist in trouble, though it’s a bit hard believing him in the fight scenes (or believing in his character at those times; where exactly are all these movie scientists getting combat training?).
The world of Impostor is high quality, futuristic noir, for the few scenes we’re shown. But most of the time is spent in sewers, hospital corridors, sparse forests, and any other place they could think of that would be dark. Hey, how about a crawl space? Or, he could just be stuck under a table. Give the poor guy some light!
Originally filmed as one third of an anthology (I’ve gotten contradictory reports on what the other two parts were) and enlarged to a feature when studio execs liked what they saw, Impostor works better in the shortened form. Half the film feels like padding. Olham is chased here and there (always in dark places) and none of it is interesting. Impostor is not an action film, and they shouldn’t have tried to make it one.