Identity Movie Review:


Some have said that this is a departure from the normal thriller. It has been said that formula thrillers and mysteries are dead. Or those audiences don’t want to see a chilling and thrilling whodunit in the classic sense. I say what happened to classic mystery in the spirit of Hitchcock or Agatha Christie? Have we as audiences become so spoiled with thrillers that we need a “Sixth Sense” style shock ending to be satisfied? During the new thriller “Identity”, I posed these questions upon its conclusion.

The thriller stars John Cusack as a reluctant hero, who finds himself faced with a live changing confrontation. Cusack plays Ed, a limo-driver with a shadowy past who is pulled into shady rundown motel during a torrential rainstorm. Ed has been brought to the motel when his limo carrying famous movie-star Caroline Susanne (Rebecca DeMornay) is involved in a traffic accident. At the motel, Ed comes in contact with Paris (Amanda Peet), a call-girl, Rhodes (Ray Liotta), a cop, and other motel patrons. When one of the patrons is brutally murdered, Ed and Rhodes find themselves forced to find out the identity of the murderer among them.

“Identity” starts off brilliantly in the spirit of Hitchcock as the strangers are flung together. The quick cuts and brilliant use of flashback make “Identity” sizzle. You get set for an amazing whodunit as each motel patron’s identity is slowly revealed. I liked how the director left us guessing to who was next.

I so wanted to be enthralled and revel in a good intelligent mystery and “Identity” had all the elements. It had all the right characters, perfect setting and a brilliant direction and style.

The sad part is that even with the perfect elements the film sold out to the latest trend. It went for the “Sixth Sense” style twist. Sure the twist is clever and interesting but only for about 2 minutes. I guessed the twist 5 or 6 minutes before any of the characters clued in. I am not sure if they all ever clued in.

The twist angered me and by the time the credits rolled all I wanted to do was scream what could have been.

The acting by the films leads was dynamite. I especially loved John Cusack’s turn as a leading man. I want to see more of him as a detective or stalwart hero. Cusack seems to get better with age. I also liked the over the top performance of Rebecca DeMornay who looks a lot like Shania Twain in her on screen persona. Liotta is poignant as ever. Peet is fragile and doing her best to expand her repertoire.

One performance that did make me smile was the reserved performance of John C McGinley. He has never been so far away from what audiences have come to expect from the actor. I liked seeing him in the role of the fractured father who is struggling to keep his family together. It’s a breakthrough and one I won’t forget from this actor.

“Identity” frustrated me and made me wish for a good old-fashioned whodunit. There is a reason stories of that nature have fascinated minds for centuries. I think they can make a comeback if the right story were to come along. Or have we been so spoiled that they are cursed? You decide.

(3 of 5)

So Says the Soothsayer.

Dean Kish

Director James Mangold’s formulaic cues keep "Identity" thrilling, but the overall outcome of the film’s puzzle contains many missing and jagged
pieces.

The setting is an off-the-road motel in the Nevada desert during the middle of a nasty rainstorm. The story has ten characters, really eleven, but
ten that are drawn to the motel, similar to Agatha Christie’s 10 Little Indians, due to the flooding and the rain. The group includes a limousine
driver (John Cusack) who use to be a cop, that is driving a washed-up actress (Rebecca DeMornay) to Los Angeles. There is a mother (Leila Kenzie) who was injured after a tire blowout, and is accompanied by her husband (John C.
McGinley) and young son (Bret Loehr). While trying to get help for the injured mother, the limo driver meets and brings along a prostitute (Amanda
Peet) looking for a fresh start as well as two newlyweds (Clea DuVall and William Lee Scott). The motel’s weasel manager (John Hawkes) gives them all a room for thirty dollars a night. The final two pieces of the story arrive last and are a hard-nosed corrections officer (Ray Liotta) and a ruthless
prisoner (Jake Busey) that he is transporting. All of the strangers are briefly introduced and then they begin dying one by one. The corrections
officer named Rhodes and the ex-cop limo driver named Ed take charge and try to figure out what is happening. The murders begin to get more gruesome and actually don’t make sense. A connection is eventually discovered between the
characters as they try to determine who the murderer is and why this happening.

There is also an additional story line in "Identity" that has a convicted murderer having his case appealed to a judge in the violent storm as well.
This side story doesn’t at first make much sense, but it interjects with the strange things occurring at the motel.

Mangold’s direction is tense and stable for a film of this nature. There are surprises and creepy moments, and Mangold’s visual style will keep your
eyes on the screen. The stormy atmosphere and fading neon motel sign contributes to the film’s subtle mood. The opening scenes, which are
flashed-forward then played back in their actuality introduces the characters and really gets the film going and it doesn’t slow down. The film is also
pretty short with a running time of only 87 minutes.

The problems in "Identity" really come from the script by Michael Cooney. Just like with the recent film "Basic," there are so many assumptions and
twists in the puzzle of "Identity" that by the time everything is revealed, it doesn’t all make sense and there are obvious holes. I cannot reveal the
problems, because I would then actually wind up spoiling the film for you. There are some hidden clues that you can catch if you watch the film really
close. Don’t take your eyes off the characters and pay attention to the background in the characters’ cozy motel rooms.

The acting cast of the film is well assembled and they work for what this film calls for. John Cusack leads the cast with his mature consistency as
the one-time cop now limo driver named Ed. Ray Liotta ventures back into material that we have seen from him before as the high-tempered cop named
Rhodes. John Hawkes provides some side humor as the motel’s questionable manager and Rebecca DeMornay fits the role of the crude actress pretty well. Amanda Peet rounds out the cast as the prostitute that mostly just spits out lines like "That’s impossible! I saw what happened, we all saw what happened!"

"Identity" is a psychological thriller that does have thrills and it keeps you guessing. However, once the secrets are revealed, some are left
unclear. The ending of at first made me shake my head and the more I think about the final twist of "Identity," the more I dislike the film as a whole.

Grade: C

4/27/03
By Joseph Tucker

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