Imposter was released back in 2002 to generally poor reviews and quickly disappeared from theaters. I remember watching the trailer and being rather unimpressed, although I do like Gary Sinise's performances. Still, I passed on seeing it in the theaters, and also passed initially when it was released on DVD, and promptly forgot about it. Recently, I saw it pop up on the budget racks, so I decided to give it a try.
The movie follows Spencer Olham, a weapons designer, who has just created a weapon which may shift the balance of power in their war with the Centauri's. Of course the day of the test arrives and Spencer is greeted by Agent Hathaway, who has evidence that Spencer is not who he claims to be. Rather than a weapons designer, he is a genetic cyborg sent by the Centauri to assassinate a government official. This, of course, can not be true. Spencer escapes and the race begins. Spencer to rediscover the truth about himself, and Hathaway's pursuit.
The story is a tale of loss of identity, and humanity's fight to regain itself. In this film that humanity is portrayed by Gary Sinise's Spencer Olham. Sinise brings a wonderful humanity to Spencer. We sympathize with him in his pursuit of himself. His identity taken from him, a wanted man on the run. Vincent D'Onofrio is Agent Hathaway, a one dimensional character with a single minded pursuit of his prey. He may be rather one dimensional, but D'Onofrio keeps him interesting. Madeleine Stowe plays Maya, Spencer's wife, in a supporting role which helps to flesh out Spencer, grounding the character and giving him something more than himself to fight for. The cast is rounded out with Mekhi Phifer, who plays Cale, a man from outside the city who befriends and helps Spencer on his journey.
The story is a bit lacking on some points. The biggest example of this being the war with the Centauri, we really don't get a feel for why this war is going on, who started it, not even what the Centauri look like. All we really know is that most of the surface has been destroyed, that there are now bubbles enclosing livable area, and that the Centauri are sending in these cyborgs, posing as humans, to take out key people. On the flip side of that, the lack of exposition there allows for more story on our main characters. This keeps the film securely focused on the human element as opposed to the epic saga developing around them. This leads to another problem. Mekhi Phifer's Cale, he is an outsider living at the surface under the bubble trying to survive outside of the protection of the government. Sadly we don't get enough on his situation which doesn't allow his character to elevate into something more meaningful than a padded out plot device to move our hero around with. In any case, there is enough here to hang your hat on so to speak, mostly thanks to Gary Sinise's fine performance.
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