The year is 2079. Mankind is at war with the genetically superior Centauri, who are mercilessly wiping out humanity's interstellar outposts and advancing on the Earth. Our only hope lies with Spencer John Olham (Sinise) who is on the verge of unveiling a super-weapon capable of giving mankind a fighting chance.

But it may already be too late. The authorities think that the Centauri have infiltrated Earth's defence shield and replaced Olham with a cyborg double rigged with explosives. On the run from the authorities, Olham has to evade capture in the city's back streets for long enough to work out whether he's really who he thinks he is, or if he's the alien impostor.

With such a brilliant set-up adapted from Philip K Dick's 1955 short story of the same name in the collection "A Handful of Darkness", you can't help but expect something special from this futuristic thriller. For the first 20 minutes "Impostor" looks as though it's going to deliver an exciting new spin on "Blade Runner" (which was also based on Dick's work). But then it all falls apart.

Although it keeps sight of the dark pessimism of Dick's original story - a tale of mistaken identity that had as much to do with the Cold War as aliens from Alpha Centauri - the film's four (!) screenwriters completely ruin the subtleties of the material. This potentially stylish cyberpunk movie is turned into nothing more than an endless series of tiresome chase sequences.

As the hero who's no longer sure who (or what) he is, Sinise is excellent, but not even he can compete with director Fleder's flashily empty camera work and the pointlessly complicated editing. While there's some doubt whether Olham is a bomb or not, it's pretty obvious that the movie definitely is.

"Impostor" opens at UK cinemas on Friday 14th June 2002.