Impostor

Traveta reviews

ImpostorDistributed by
Disney/Buena Vista

• Cert: R
• Cat.no: 26564
• Running time: 102 minutes
• Year: 2002
• Pressing: 2002
• Region(s): 1, NTSC
• Chapters: 15
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: $29.99
• Extras: The Impostor Files, Original Short Film, Theatrical Trailer.
  

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  Director:

  Gary Fleder

Screenplay:

Caroline Case, Ehren Kruger and David N.Twohy

Cast:

Spencer John Ohlam: Gary Senise
Maya Ohlam: Madeline Stowe
Hathaway: Vincent D’onofrio
Cale: Mekhi Phifer
Nelson Gittes: Tony Shalhoub

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Impostorwas due back in 1999, I believe. Thestoryline is still intact but some questions do remainas to why it was delayed for so long. It’s not thegreatest movie in the world but it’s not terriblyunwatchable. Maybe they just didn’t think there was atime to release it or something. But whatever thereason it still deserved a chance.

Impostor tells the story of an Earth that has beenthe victim of constant aerial bombardings from a racecalled Centauri. Magnetic domes are built around majorcities to protect them. Meanwhile, a scientist namedSpence John Ohlam (Gary Senise) works on and completesa weapon that is what the nuke was to the outcome ofWWII. But an enemy interrogation bureu as reason tobelieve that Spencer is really a Centauri geneticcyborg with a bomb inside of him that could kill thechancelor. Spencer escapes and is chased by the ESAthroughout as he gets help from an undergroundcivilian (Mekhi Phifer).

I was suprised by this film. After it’s delay,lacklustre box office (VERY lacklustre), and badreviews, I expected something terrible, but beingbased on a short story by the writer of Blade Runnerand Minority Report, it’s easy to like it a little. Dohave some gripes though. One, in the beginning of thefilm they show clips of Earth being destroyed. Misslesdescending onto New York City was taken DIRECTLY fromArmageddon,scenes of the missiles slamming intobuildings were from the same film, a scene where a cityis in ruins is Buenos Aires from Starship Troopersas are two scenes which show an army lined up and getting intoships.

It just suprises me that the budget was that low that they had to just usescenes from other movies. Armageddon is owned by the samestudio that made this but still. The cop uniforms arealso from Starship Troopers as well. One last gripe isthat sometimes it felt like it was the same thing overand over. But the twist ending makes up for it.

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Into the disc (all my reviews on the video start outthis way). The video is extremely mixed. I’ve alwaysfelt that Buena Vista doesn’t care about DVD too muchand this is a testament to that. Not only are theprices extremely high (The Crew was retailing for$34.99 at one point) but the video and extras areusually lacklustre to boot. The video suffers fromcompression artifacts and noise in most of the darkscenes which cover a good portion of the movie. Thecharacters didn’t look that sharp either. It wassomewhat distracting in some scenes but I eventuallygot used to it.

The sound doesn’t fare much better either. I noticedin one scene it actually faded in and didn’t seem asloud. Not terrible or anything but not as good as itshould have been. And only one audio track is includedand that is English Dolby Digital 5.1, a track withSenise and the director would have been cool.

The extras are not great either. The Impostor filesis just a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a trailer is there as well. The realtreat for most fans will be the original short filmthat was made before the actual film. The short filmruns at approximately thirty minutes.

Overall, Impostor is a decent flick hampered by adisappointing DVD. Buena Vista can do much better thanthis. But I would only recommend Impostor as aweekend rental and not as a purchase unless you likefilms like Blade Runner and Minority Report.

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FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Traveta, 2002.

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