Impostor

With a McCarthy-era literary pedigree and thinking man's hunk Gary Sinese producing as well as starring, it's no surprise that Impostor is a sci-fi thriller more concerned with the genre's intellectual than visceral possibilities. Yet while the story offers some interesting topical parallels in a post-Sept 11 world, the execution probably isn't strong enough to win over a mainstream audience more accustomed to sci-fi brawn than brain. Genre buffs might keep this Dimension release in US cinemas for a couple of weeks: in its first weekend it opened on 1,870 sites and took $3.8m, an average of $2,034. Thereafter Impostor will have to rely mostly on the worldwide video market to recoup what looks like its fairly modest budget.

The plot comes from a 1953 short story by Philip K Dick (whose work also formed the bases for Bladerunner, Total Recall and Minority Report, this summer's Spielberg release). In the year 2079 Earth is resisting invasion by the alien forces of Alpha Centurai in an on-going war that has put paid to democracy and many civil liberties. The planet's remaining cities are protected by vast domes designed to keep the alien ships at bay. Sinese's Spencer Olham is a government scientist who has put aside his youthful idealism to develop weapons to battle the Centurai forces. But just as he is about to unveil his most powerful creation, Olham is arrested by zealous security cop Major Hathaway (D'Onofrio), who believes the scientist has been replaced by a bomb-carrying Centurai android. On the run and desperate to prove Hathaway wrong, Olham can only rely on the help of his wife (Stowe) and a mysterious outcast (Phifer).

Although the film is structured as a chase, it's mostly a cat-and-mouse chase conducted in shadowy tunnels and imaginatively designed hi-tech interiors rather than one requiring an abundance of metal-crunching stunt scenes. The effects sequences are modest and relatively few but they are convincing enough to create a believable sense of place. Perhaps making a virtue out of financial necessity, the visual style is dark and claustrophobic. The jittery cinematography and editing serve the story well in places, although they prove hard on the eye after a while.

Most of the work, however, has to be done by the cast and the script. The cast is the film's biggest asset, with Sinese working up a troubled intensity for Olham and D'Onofrio finding a couple of human touches to add to Hathaway's brutal sense of mission. Stowe and Phifer do their bit to add to the prevailing sense of paranoia. The script, however, never quite summons up enough tension to keep the story compelling. The question mark over Olham's true identity might have given the story a consistently taut central thread but the mystery is only really exploited in the film's refreshingly downbeat ending.

Prod cos: Mojo Films
US dist: Dimension Films
Intl sales: Miramax International
Exec prod: Michael Phillips
Prods: Gary Fleder, Gary Sinese, Marty Katz, Daniel Lupi
Scr: Caroline Case, Ehren Kruger, David Twohy, based on the short story by Philip K Dick
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Prod des: Nelson Coates
Eds: Arman Minasian, Bob Ducsay
Music: Mark Isham
Main cast: Gary Sinese, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio, Tony Shalhoub, Tim Guinee, Mekhi Phifer