VIDEO
Impostor

Starring: Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe & Vincent D'onofrio
Metrodome
Rental
MTD172
Certificate: 18
Available now


Earth is at war with a race of hostile aliens. The aliens latest weapon is a robotic humanoid, undetectable from the real thing, which is programmed to seek out its target and explode. Spencer Olham is a weapons scientist who becomes the latest suspect to be dragged in to be interrogated by cold investigator D H Hathaway. After escaping Olham goes on the run has to prove his innocence...

Set in 2079, Impostor has all the hallmarks of a classic Sci-fi movie. A bleak, almost film-noir, setting for the future of mankind fits wonderfully up there with some of the best Sci-fi movies on record - the whole production has certain Bladerunner qualities. So it will be no surprise that it is adapted from the short story by Philip K Dick - the second movie recently to do so, Minority Report being the slightly more palatable.

There are some great scenes - including the holographic data recording of the interrogation of a previous suspect. I say interrogation, but in actual fact it is more like an assassination with the suspect having their stomach drilled and their heart ripped out - while they are still alive - as this is the only way to tell if they are humans or not. Another nice touch sees our hero have problems with the connection with his mobile videophone - nice to see that technology is still unreliable in the future.

We are led to believe that the system used for bringing in suspects is not 100% accurate as more than a handful of innocent humans have been killed in the process. I did have a bit of a problem with this. Surely, given the fact that the deed must be done, and they know there is a slight chance that the suspect may be innocent, wouldn't it be more humane to sedate the suspect instead of have them plead for their life and then watch as the drill cuts into their flesh? There may have been a reason in the original screenplay, but I don't recall seeing it on screen.

The effects are above par and the set pieces are lovingly detailed. The ending is so clearly signposted from early on that only someone not of this planet will have a job working out how it is all going to end up... or so I thought. While I managed to work out the twist way too early, I was left reeling from the fact that that was exactly what the director had intended and then "Wham!" I was hit by the real twist.

An above average Sci-fi movie which doesn't disappoint.

Ray Thompson