Identity

Rating:
Summary: Not To Worry, Norman Bates - You Have No Competition Here!!
Review: "Identity" is definitely no "Psycho" - not even close, although it does have the motel and psychopathic killer(s). There is more missing in this film than Alfred Hitchcock's brilliance. I had great expectations, especially after the movie's excellent beginning. Creepy opening shots of a criminal mug shot, bizarre childlike drawings, photographs of female murder victims, with voice-overs of a psychiatrist interviewing a very disturbed person, backed by eerie music and a very strange poem, all seemed promising.

Then...on a stormy night in the Nevada desert a group of people, stranded by the flooded highway and surrounding roads, converge on a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. (sound familiar?) There's Ed (John Cusack), an ex-cop turned limo driver from LA, and his has-been actress passenger (Rebecca DeMornay); a Mom, Pop and kid who have much more than road problems; a gorgeous hooker; a recently married couple; a very sinister motel owner; and a cop, (Ray Liotta), accompanying a dangerous convict in chains. My initial feeling that the film was doomed was when I noticed that the convict was a cross between Freddy Krueger and Frankenstein. He is ugly, yes, but too funny looking to be really scary. Then I noticed that 3 of the 4 women were all stunning, sexy, wore miniskirts and showed lots of clevage...more credibility lost. I may sound picky, but if the film is really scary, then one doesn't notice these things.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, the murders begin, and just like in the film "And Then There Were None," the motel guests are knocked off one by one, in descending order of their room numbers, with their keys placed next to the bodies. It soon becomes clear that every possible suspect is being eliminated. So, who is the murderer?? This is when a major plot twist kicks in, but even with the new turn of events the film does not become more credible, nor do the characters.

The plot is hackneyed, even with the 21st century rewrite and surprise ending - most of this has been done before, many times. The dialogue is inane, peppered with four-letter words, although there are a few quips by the motel owner that are kind of funny. He is asked to guard the convict who has just been recaptured after a very violent escape. He says, "I don't know if I feel comfortable with guard duty, per se." That's as good as it gets. The characters are flat - absolutely no depth. Now some may say there's a reason for this, and there may be. However one still has to sit through an entire film watching cardboard characters running aimlessly around in the pouring rain, mouthing inane dialogue - just to see an unusual ending. This does not make for an entertaining film.

The premise is good. But good premises do not always make good movies. This one's a loser. You may get a few scares during the film's run time, but you might leave the theater feeling unsatisfied. I sure did.
JANA

Rating:
Summary: An intricate jigsaw puzzle of a thriller.
Review: "Identity" is one of those murder mysteries that, if you reveal the plot in a review, you deserve to be one of the victims. Let's just say that it involves two parallel stories: ten disparate, desperate travelers are stranded during a flood in a spooky, run-down motel; the same night, a panel of judges and lawyers meet to decide whether to stay the execution of a mentally disturbed serial killer. How these two stories intersect forms the surprise of "Identity"--but not the WHOLE surprise... In any case, director James Mangold maintains a breathtaking level of suspense throughout the movie, and if the script is a little too reminiscent of "Psycho" and "And Then There Were None," it still has more than enough thrills to glide past the occasional horror-movie cliche. (The Associated Press critic opined rightly that "Identity" could do for laundry rooms what "Psycho" did for showers.) The performances--by John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Pruitt Taylor Vince and others--are far above the usual run for movies of this type, and add immeasurably to the film's impact. You won't understand completely what's going on till the final seconds of the film, and that final, dreadful twist will haunt you for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: 9 ROOMS, 10 VACANCIES....
Review: "Identity" is one of those psychological thrillers where you really have to pay attention or you get lost. It's an engrossing mix of creepy murder thriller and character study that draws you in quickly and doesn't let up. A group of disparate strangers winds up at an eerie run down motel in a brutal rainstorm and find themselves being picked off one by one by a mysterious killer. Meanwhile, a schizophrenic mass murderer is scheduled for execution but his psychiatrist is arguing for an insanity reprieve. The stranded strangers discover that they have odd things in common. And then there are the motel room keys left as macabre clues. A truly great cast includes John Cusack as a limo driver, Ray Liotta as a cop, Amanda Peet as a call girl, Clea Duvall as an unhappy newlywed, John Hawkes as the loopy motel "manager" and Alfred Molina as the psychiatrist with Taylor Pruitt Vance as the schizophrenic and Rebecca DeMornay in an all too brief role as a hotheaded TV star being driven by Cusack. Other actors in the cast are good too. Director James Mangold keeps things moving with no room for draggy spots and each character has secrets---their own "baggage" so to speak. How the two plots come together is truly bizarre and beautifully handled. I found the ending to be a let down, but actually it made sense in a frustrating way. So I recommend "Identity" for those who enjoy a genuinely spooky story and murder mystery with a twist. Watching the cast alone is worth watching the movie for. Good extras on the DVD, too.

Rating:
Summary: Psycho-thrillers are not out of date
Review: "The silence of the Lambs" was the real beginning of this subgenre of memorable pictures like "The silence..." itself or "The sixth sense". Some other like "12 Monkeys" and a lot of them which arised in the late 90's could kill the psycho-thriller movie.

I am pleased to see that this sort of movies regarding to the deep obscure thoughts of ill minds are alive and well. I can even feel the difference between the first and the second of Ripley's movies. The first, with Damon, is mediocre and even boring. The second, with Malkovich, is superb.

This "Identity" is in the good road, but not the 10 characters which are entrapped in a motor-hotel isolated of all contact by road, by phone or by radio. The series of crimes makes it a decent suspense movie at the beginning, but the irruption of one of the characters in a late night trial, converts the movie in a great psycho-thriller.

Actors are fine. I'm really becoming a Cusack's fan, becuase all his acting is really convincing, but not so much from Liotta. Amanda Peet is also to be acclaimed.

Anyway, I won't say anything else, because it is very important to keep the emotion until the end. Just see it until the end, because the resolution is the best of the movie. As it has to be.

Rating:
Summary: Headtrip
Review: "As I was walking up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish, I wish, he'd go away." This subtle, creepy poem by Hughes Mearns begins the year's best psychological thriller. "Identity" will play mind games with the audience and then make them lean forward in their seats and cry, "What the hell?" But, that's not all. This movie keeps the shocks coming until the disturbing ending, which repeats Mearns poem with a new meaning by a character more chilling than can be expected. Don't miss this one, I guarantee a ride full of wicked twists. P.S. The editorial review from Amazon.com is incorrect. There is no one in this film suferring from schizophrenia. They mean to say multiple personality disorder.

Rating:
Summary: 9 ROOMS, 10 VACANCIES....
Review: "Identity" is one of those psychological thrillers where you really have to pay attention or you get lost. It's an engrossing mix of creepy murder thriller and character study that draws you in quickly and doesn't let up. A group of disparate strangers winds up at an eerie run down motel in a brutal rainstorm and find themselves being picked off one by one by a mysterious killer. Meanwhile, a schizophrenic mass murderer is scheduled for execution but his psychiatrist is arguing for an insanity reprieve. The stranded strangers discover that they have odd things in common. And then there are the motel room keys left as macabre clues. A truly great cast includes John Cusack as a limo driver, Ray Liotta as a cop, Amanda Peet as a call girl, Clea Duvall as an unhappy newlywed, John Hawkes as the loopy motel "manager" and Alfred Molina as the psychiatrist with Taylor Pruitt Vance as the schizophrenic and Rebecca DeMornay in an all too brief role as a hotheaded TV star being driven by Cusack. Other actors in the cast are good too. Director James Mangold keeps things moving with no room for draggy spots and each character has secrets---their own "baggage" so to speak. How the two plots come together is truly bizarre and beautifully handled. I found the ending to be a let down, but actually it made sense in a frustrating way. So I recommend "Identity" for those who enjoy a genuinely spooky story and murder mystery with a twist. Watching the cast alone is worth watching the movie for. Good extras on the DVD, too.

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe in your eyes!
Review: 'Identity' is a competent and hard thrilling suspense movie which has two great points when compared with the other films of the same kind, especially the more recent ones: originality and a good (although not original) finale. Director James Mangold know his office and give to us a solid suspense which, sometimes (especially the scenario, an old and decayed motel) resembles the classic 'Psycho' of the master Alfred Hithcock. The solution of the mystery - that I'll not tell here - was used in some other movies, as you will find afterwards. Good performances all around, with a special consideration to Pruitt Taylor Vince, as the accused serial killer and John Hawkes, as the nervous motel manager.

Rating:
Summary: Give me a break.
Review: (Contains spoilers) A group of strangers stranded at a deserted motel one dark, rainy night are picked off one by one by a killer ... I heard about this movie a long time before it was released and I waited anxiously for it. I was really looking forward to it and really wanted to like it because I'm a fan of suspense thrillers, slasher-type/serial-killer movies, and members of the cast such as the excellent John Cusack and Clea DuVall. Unfortunately, I was shocked at how bad this movie was. I had read a positive review of it where it said it played like an average slasher movie until an impressive twist towards the end made up for the rest of the movie. Impressive twist? Don't make me laugh. What's the twist? Well, the whole cast turn out to be the same character, the killer's different personalities knocking each other off! And then a final little twist about which of the personalities was the actual killer. Like anyone cares ... It reminds me of Nicholas Cage's character in "Adaptation" panning his twin brother's screenplay "The 3" - to paraphrase: "You mean the cop, the killer, and the girl are all the same character?!" Summary: The acting is fairly good, as is the cinematography (the director does dark, rainy nights as good as anyone) but "Identity" is a ludicrous and very bad movie. A big disappointment. What was the impressive cast thinking? I just hope they got paid well for it, at the very least.


Rating:
Summary: I Felt As If I Were Punk'd!
Review: ....the premise is silly and the ending sillier in this so-called psychological mystery. Without trying to give too much away, I'd have felt more better if the Liotta character was actually the mass murderer and he and Amanda Peet were left to fight to the death, so to speak--this to me, simply became one dark, gloomy and soggy night at the 'Don't Drop In' Motor Inn. Even though the creators tried to keep it from being another horror-slash film like Halloween, (maybe to revitalise that genre for an older demographic--the original audiences for the 80's slasher film), in my opinion, that's exactly how it comes off, except the victims are not horny, drunk teenagers. It also has the feel of the director shooting scenes just as the writer(s) come up with new pages of dialog. Which was okay in those days when they were doing those corny Sat Morning Matinee serials. The only redeeming value of this movie, to me, is that it has that glamourous De Mornay in it for a split second... A far more creepier, more intense and nastier show is the 80's moderate budget movie The Hitcher with Rutger Hauer and C Thomas Howell. Don't get Punk'd on this. There ain't no Kutcher involved and thusly it ain't much fun.

Rating:
Summary: I Never Knew It Rained So Much in Nevada
Review: A creepy motel; a torrential rain storm making the roads impassable; a group of seemingly ten strangers all sharing the same birthday; and the haunting confessions of a dissociative schizophrenic; what more could you possibly want? Well, a tighter, more plausible plot would be nice along with a less hokey ending.

All of the above can be found in the psychological thriller "Identity". As the movie begins the viewer is treated to the tape recorded confessions of the before mentioned murderer. As Dr Malick (Albert Molina) listens to the recording, one gets to hear the near perfect voice of detached evil.

After this short sequence the scene shifts to a very rainy highway where a family is broken down on the shoulder with a flat tire and a limousine is racing along the road to who-knows-where. The limo driver, Ed (John Cusack), is distracted by his passenger, Caroline Suzanne (Rebecca De Mornay), who has him rummaging through her bag looking for a spare mobile phone battery. Ed strikes the mother of the family, Alice York (Leila Kenzle), and sets off a chain of events that won't end until many of the characters established in the film have "disappeared" from the scene.

"Identity" is a film that is difficult to describe simply because there is so much in the story that can give away what the writers are so obviously trying to hide. There are two secrets that this movie has. One is the obvious "Who done it?". The other is not so obvious. Unfortunately the writers give away the secret with about 20 minutes left in the film. This surprise would have been the better one to wait until the end of the movie to disclose instead of the "Who done it?" one.

While "Identity" is not the most well-written story in the world, it does have one major thing going for it: strong acting. The cast includes such excellent actors as Cusack, Molina, and Ray Liotta. There are also some unusually strong performances supplied by Amanda Peet, Jake Busey, John Hawkes, and John C. McGinley. The fact that this is an ensemble piece is part of the movie's strength as it allows the many actors involved to go overboard with their roles without dragging down the movie because going overboard is essential to each character's raison d'etre.

"Identity" certainly doesn't rank in the first class of mystery movies with the likes of "The Ususal Suspects"; but, it provides enough interesting twists and good acting to maintain one's interest all the way through to the rather contrived ending.