IMPOSTOR (**)
NOT many people outside of the science fiction circles know who Philip K. Dick is. But they have definitely seen (or heard of) the great films that have been based on his work. SF writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan and Michael Crichton create stories where characters become victims/witnesses of events beyond their control/understanding. PKD works from the individual instead of to it, revealing the ideas he wishes to deal with, through a focal character. If SF ideas could be seen as ripples in a pool of water, other writers’ characters would be buoys. PKD’s would be causing the splash.
We need only to take a look at PKD’s work to realize what ideas emanate from each story’s central personality. In BLADE RUNNER, he contemplates the value of love and life in the 21st century when androids become part of our society, through the experiences of Rick Deckard (played by Harrison Ford). In TOTALL RECALL, he focuses on the fluidity of memory, and how its value may extend to entertainment (and even espionage) in the future, through the quest of Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He also questions whether memory defines who we are as human beings. In MINORITY REPORT, he deals with the idea of forecasting murders, along with the dangers and pitfalls that come with a system that facilitates this ability, through the struggles of John Anderton (Tom Cruise).
So now comes IMPOSTOR, riding on the coattails of past PKD film adaptations (only here of course, since it was released in the US in January of 2002, months before MINORITY REPORT). It clearly follows the same single-character perspective. And like its forerunners, it delves into its buried issues by exposing its protagonist to paranoid situations (a PKD staple). But as hard as it tries, it doesn’t even come close to the spirit of Philip K. Dick. It is ill equipped and botched, like a carpenter trying to hammer a nail with a stapler, and bending it while trying.
The catalyst for PKD’s story is Spence Olham (played by Gary Sinise), a scientist who builds weapons used during a futuristic war against an alien race from Alpha Centuri. A common tactic used by the aliens to terminate their enemies is to take a human subject, replicate him, and kill him. The “replicant” (shades of Blade Runner here) is implanted with a bomb as a heart, capable of massive destruction (somewhere in the background, you can here the Centurians shouting “Touché!”).
A military official named Hathaway (played by Vincent D’Onofrio), believes Olham has been compromised and orders him killed before he can get close to their leader, the Chancellor (Lindsay Crouse). Even Spense’s spouse Maya (Madeleine Stowe), a government physician, begins to doubt his claims of being untouched. He goes on the run, finds help along the way in the guise of Cale (Mekhi Phifer), a social pariah, in order to find a hospital test that will confirm whether he is a replicant or not.
The movie starts well and finishes strong. It’s the middle that needs a lot of work. It has intriguing ideas, its climax is fantastic, but pads so many unnecessary shots and gimmicks that I was left bored. Once the movie lets us know what the conflict is, it doesn’t have enough creativity to lead us into new places. It also doesn’t have the kind of screenplay that enables a thoughtful examination of the issues it brings up (What makes a man’s soul?). After 30 minutes, the movie is dead in the water.
Some Internet critics do not blame the film’s lack of creative storytelling on its filmmakers, claiming it has little to work with. I don’t buy that at all. IMPOSTOR shares a lot of characteristics with MINORITY REPORT and TOTALL RECALL. All three of these movies were based on short stories, yet it is only IMPOSTOR that severely lacks in futuristic detail, creative storytelling (care of Steven Spielberg), or even brazen violence (care of Paul Verhoeven). It looks like a TV movie put up on the big screen, having impressive visual effects, but only sporadically. There is an overabundance of running, hiding, and silly fight scenes where the true nitty-gritty of science fiction should kick in.
For example, IMPOSTOR’s original story had Olham sent to the moon for disassembly and bomb diffusion, before he was to escape back to Earth to find the test that would absolve him of guilt. Who in the world decided to leave this out of the film version? This sequence could have provided the spectacular action and vision the film so desperately needed (as the trip to Mars proved equally so for TOTAL RECALL). It’s hard to believe that Scott Rosenberg, who wrote the wonderful screenplay for HIGH FIDELITY, could end up mishandling a promising story from a SF legend (then again, this was the same man who wrote the script for KANGAROO JACK).
Though every actor here plays his role aptly, I must say that casting Vincent D’Onofrio as a conventional military man is about as effective as casting Jim Carrey in a horror movie. He does nothing wrong here, but his talents are completely wasted. There is no actor in Hollywood (with probably the exception of Johnny Depp) that plays strange characters better than D’Onofrio (Remember the bug-man in MIB? The psycho in THE CELL? The noseless drug-dealer in THE SALTON SEA?). He simply has no figurative weight as Hathaway.
I feel bad for Gary Sinise. He’s one of the better Hollywood actors we have today, a great guy virtually no ego, who has always given excellent performances, but has been bombing as of late (SNAKE EYES, REINDEER GAMES, MISSION TO MARS). This project must hurt a tad bit more for him since he’s also credited as the movie’s producer. But I’m confident that he’ll be great again. He deserves better (as does the audience) from his co-producers. IMPOSTOR’s finest creative spark comes from its ending. Too bad it’s far from enough.
Posted by FLIPCRITIC at July 25, 2003 12:00 AM