Impostor

The nations of the world are at war with a faceless, merciless enemy intent on their complete obliteration. Paranoia and fear govern the actions not only of the populace but of its leaders as well, resulting in draconian laws that foment suspicion, improbable safety measures enacted in the name of the national good, and a booming military-industrial complex. Worse, the enemy has taken to using the good citizenry of earth as human time bombs, capable of infiltrating the highest levels of government and committing shocking acts of terrorism. Director Gary Fleder (Don't Say a Word) has turned to legendary sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick (whose work also served as the template for Blade Runner and Total Recall) and accidentally delivered a documentary, of sorts. Granted, our current crisis doesn't involve an ancient race of killers from beyond the stars, and hover-cars and spaceports are still a ways off, but for all its sci-fi trappings Impostor nonetheless carries with it unmistakable echoes of reality. That the film works as well as it does has as much to do with the entirely coincidental timing of its release as with Fleder's skill as director. Adapted from Dick's short story by screenwriter David Twohy (Waterworld, Pitch Black), Impostor casts Gary Sinise as high-level munitions worker Spencer Ohlum, who, when he's not making bombs and being a stiff-necked patriot, spends his free time with wife Maya (Stowe), who serves the war effort as a crusading physician. When Spencer is accosted by government agent Hathaway (D'Onofrio) and mistaken for one of the enemy's killer androids, he does the natural thing and escapes into the city, searching for proof that he is who he says he is, and ends up with a group of rag-tag rebels who exist in the margins of this brave new world of 2079. When Impostor works, which is fairly sporadic, it manages to capture the desperation of a man (perhaps) falsely accused alongside some showy special effects work and futuristic touches that rival Blade Runner's crushing sense of urban malaise. At its core, however, the film is a standard chase film, gussied up in the trappings of the sci-fi genre. Once Spencer is on the run, he's on the run for the rest of the film's 95-minute running time. Tommy Lee Jones is conspicuously absent from this fugitive's trail, but D'Onofrio's preening government man -- an over-the-top characterization from an actor who's no stranger to ham -- fills the bill. Stowe, an actress who has always struck me as a cipher in her own right, has little to do here but maintain a resolute front in the midst of an increasingly paranoid situation, and Tony Shalhoub makes the most of the hero's doomed buddy role as he can before dying a quick death a mere 20 minutes in. It's up to Sinise to carry the movie, and he does so admirably. A leading man with the smarts of a character actor, Sinise's everyman countenance and perpetual under-eye baggage add a note of reality to his very generic character that other actors (Arnold Schwarzenegger lumbers to mind) would be hard-pressed to allow. Ultimately, however, Impostor is only a good as its story, which is, frankly, The Fugitive bumped forward a few decades. It's not a disaster by any means, but neither is it the futuristic parable it so clearly wants to be.