10. ‘Impostor’ (2002)

The story behind "Impostor" is much more interesting than the movie itself. Originally envisioned as one third of an anthology film, two of the sections (this and Guillermo del Toro‘s section, "Mimic") were expanded to a feature-length format which left the last section, Danny Boyle‘s "Alien Love Triangle," virtually unseen. And maybe "Impostor" was a better short film, because the movie is pretty glum and feels padded out just to make its longer running time.

The film version fundamentally follows the 1953 short story of the same name, wherein a security contractor (Gary Sinise) is working on a defense against alien invaders until, one day, he’s accused of being a robotic spy for them. Featuring several Dick hallmarks (the "wrong man" trope, a secret identity, artificial intelligence) but none of the joy or verve that makes them compelling narrative embroidery, this is a curio, nothing more.

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