Matrix Reloaded

What's the Plot?

Ten seemingly strangers are brought together under very bizarre circumstances in a very unusual place. Ed (John Cusack) is a limo driver for 80's TV star Caroline Suzanne (Rebecca DeMornay) who hits a woman on the road during a torrential rainstorm. They take the woman (Leila Kenzle) and her distraught husband and son, George and ...... (John C. McGinley and Bret Loehr) to the nearest place that should have a phone - a desolate motel in the middle of nowhere run by a nervous night manager, Larry (John Hawkes). With the phones out, Ed tries to drive to the nearest hospital. Along the way, he is flagged down by a call girl, Paris (Amanda Peet , who informs him that all the roads are flooded out by the storm. When his car becomes useless by trying to cross a flooded road, the two of them are picked by newlyweds Ginny and Lou (Clea DuVall and William Lee Scott) who drive them back to the motel where cop Officer Rhodes (Ray Liotta) has turned up, transporting Robert Maine (Jake Busey) - a multiple murderer. Relief soon turns into terror as the ten strangers begin to die one by one and the remaining people have to figure out who, why and what brought them together if they are to survive the night.

The Review

So, title sequences can be alot more than just letting you know who's in the film and who did what - Se7en's intro started a horror trend and Mission: Impossible gave snippets of the film to the viewer in a fast forward fashion. Identity does something as unique with it's opening titles but depending on how astute and observant you are, you may find yourself pretty clued up on the rest of the movies' events that unfold in it's incredibly short running time of 90 minutes - a time span normally associated with Disney features.

What we are presented with in a nutshell is a variation on the classic Ten Little Indians (which gets mentioned in the film but not by name!) but with a decidedly fresh twist that hasn't been explored before. With this premise, all the standard ingredients of modern horror/thriller movies have been added; dark, stormy night; point-of-view shots as the "killer" creeps up on a victim; confusion as the finger of suspicion weaves from one candidate to another; all are present and correct but they nevertheless work well. Within the first 20 minutes, all the characters are gathered in the "Bates"-like motel in a cleverly crafted way (think Short Cuts but alot faster) and then the characterisation begins with most of the ensemble given enough secrecy to allow them to shine in the spot-light of suspicion.

Cusack and Liotta head up the cast with a sparky double act as Mr. Smooth and Mr. Psycho which, let's face it, is their trademarks. Where Identity pulls the rug from out under you though is that it's "surprise" is revealed way before the ending, which sounds a tad premature, but actually adds to the story's impact. With this revelation, you still can't wait to see who will survive - if anyone will! - because it sends the film into a weird, but welcome direction. Like The Sixth Sense, Identity has all the clues there on show for you to clock, but believe me, there's no way you'll guess the truth cause this kind of film... there's been nothing like it. Go see, and wish that it was 20 minutes longer - a strange thing for any cinema-goer to wish for nowadays!

STEVE'S SCORE