Impostor (2001) Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio, Mekhi Phifer Movie Review

Impostor (2001)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Gary Sinise in Impostor (2001)

Cyborg Terrorists

Weapons specialist Spencer Olham (Gary Sinise - Reindeer Games) has just returned from a weekend away with his wife Maya (Madeleine Stowe - The General's Daughter) when he begins to suspect some thing is wrong as security seems to be observing him more. And then he discovers why when Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men in Black) and his men arrest him as they believe he is one of the cyborgs aliens have been replacing their human counterparts with which will explode when they get close to their target. Managing to escape Spencer manages to make it to the underground where with the help of Cale (Mekhi Phifer - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) sets about trying to prove he isn't a cyborg.

As I watched "Impostor" I scribbled down one thing "a futuristic take on 'North by Northwest'" and then as the movie ended I added "with a twist". And do you know what, that is not a bad description of this movie based on a Philip K. Dick as we have this future world under attack from aliens using cyborgs as bombs, we have a man on the run trying to prove himself innocent, well in this case not a cyborg bomb, and then there is the twist.

Vincent D'Onofrio in Impostor (2001)

The thing about all this is that it actually makes "Impostor" a very simple movie to follow but one which you surprisingly do because of the crux of the movie which is if Spencer is a cyborg he doesn't know and as such believes he is human. As such that simple fact combined with a few revelations, the final twists and a nice balance between story, action and special effects keeps you watching. In fact it is worth saying that watched now, more than 15 years after "Impostor" was made, the special effects are a little dated and cheesy in places.

As for the acting, well it is a case of good but forgettable from all those involved. But the casting is spot on as Gary Sinise, Mekhi Phifer and Vincent D'Onofrio all commit to their roles even though the characters actually lack the depth to needed to make them memorable. As for Madeleine Stowe, well surprisingly she has very little to do in the movie and seems a waste of her talents.

What this all boils down to is that "Impostor" is entertaining but also pretty routine and unfortunately not overly memorable. But it is certainly worth a watch thanks to the balance between storyline and action as well as the twists.


LATEST REVIEWS