Rating: 8/10
Review date: December 1, 2003
A heavy rainstorm caused eleven strangers to be stranded in a desolate motel: a limo driver, an ex TV-star, a prostitute, a pair of newlyweds, a cop transporting a prisoner, a family of three and the motel manager himself. One by one, they start getting murdered. It doesn�t take them long to realize that their seemingly coincidental encounter might have a hidden purpose which they have to discover if they want to survive the night.
Identity is a great movie directed by James Mangold with plenty of twists for the audience to unravel which is reinforced by a strong cast as well. This movie also sports a cool background (I like how it rain incessantly� nice!) and effective brooding atmosphere which heightens the tension as the characters get killed off.
The movie certainly draws inspiration from �Ten Little Indians�, a great book written by Agatha Christie which I read many years ago; one of the characters even mention this at some point in the movie.
One of Identity�s main strength lies in its characters. Fortunately, the cast delivers a very satisfying and plausible performance.
John Cusack�s acting is great as Ed, the limo driver who tries to take charge of the situation. Ray Liotta follows hot on Cusack�s trail with lots of intensity in his character as Rhodes, the hot-headed cop who is transporting a prisoner (Jake Busey as Robert Maine). Amanda Peet plays Paris, the hooker that constantly argues with the hotel manager (John Hawkes as Larry) who unfortunately hates whores.
Clea Duvall plays Ginny, a rather hysterical woman who is accompanied by her husband (William Lee Scott as Lou). John C. McGinley acted credibly as George, along with his wife (Leila Kenzle) and son (Bret Loehr). Rebecca DeMornay acted as the ex TV-star and to be honest, I don�t care much about her character.
Just like all other movies with similar genre, there is very little re-watch value once you�ve seen it once. Not only that, despite the solid effort by director James Mangold, most people who initially like the movie have one major complain to make.
These people agree that the ending disappoints, some even said that it�s a cop-out ending. Bearing this in mind, I personally do not find this the case. As a matter of fact, I like the ending very much for not going down the clich� route and become another lame murder mystery. However, I do understand how some people might feel �cheated� at the end.
Ultimately this depends on individual preference of course, but I can guarantee that Identity will deliver plenty of spookiness, suspense, mystery (and� a rainstorm?) which is reinforced by strong directing, a great story and a stellar cast.
*Trivia*
Multiple endings were shot to shroud the real one in secrecy.
Memorable quote: �As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there.�
-John Cusack as Ed-
(c) Martin Taidy