Review of Impostor (2001) by Joseph S — 14 Sep 2008

The end makes the movie(I saw a directors cut), so it might be different on other versions. The story is traditional, light PKD. A weapons designer, is caught in a case of mistaken identity, when the government thinks he is actually a highly advanced alien bomb. To complicate things, he's been dosed with a high grade hullucinagen, which only increases his paranoi and subjectivity.

Like so many "man wrongly accused" stories, there's alot of light footed thriller action (some which resemble Minority Report), another Dick story from the same year. Most of which is pretty standard and forgetful.

What I liked about this was that it stuck to it's premise, didn't interject too many other sci-fi tropes to keep up it's energy(it does get a little slow), and actually had an ending worthy of bieng a Philip K. Dick story.

The ending is more than just a twist for twists sake, it really does alter the way we have viewed the story until thent, and it calls into questionthe accepted ideas about things like love, authencity, what it means to be a "self", etc.

Those familiar with this type of thing, won't be shocked, but it's decent sci-fi thriller that does i'ts source material a fair justice. Also it's closer to "human nature", and the problems of "authenciticy" than "Red Belt".