Identity (2003)

Written by Michael Moody / Directed by James Mangold
Starring John Cusack, Ray Liota, Amanda Peet and Alfred Molina
110 mins / Columbia / Sony Pictures / Rated R

The Poster

I expected Identity your standard horror/slasher movie in which strangers are brought together through dubious means to a remote locale, only to have said strangers picked off in grim fashion by an unholy madman. We've seen this movie time and time again, and in a way we're very comforted by it. We know what to expect and yet still we go, from the 80's style slasher flicks, to more modern fodder like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Ghost Ship. I expected "Identity" to be an empty ride, with some cheap, meaningless thrills thrown in for good measure. You know the type: the kind that are seemingly designed to make your date cringe and hold on to you.

Well, I was wrong. While Identity is a movie set at a remote, desolate locale and various deaths/murders do occur, nothing is what it seems. The film has some major twists to it that turn all expectations and assumptions upside down, so much so that I was completely unprepared for the final shocker - the identity of the one responsible.

Identity carries a profound psychological subtext that we later find is the core of the movie. What does a condemned man, whose impending execution less than 48 hours away, have to do with eleven seemingly unconnected people at a roadside motel?

The strangers, through bizarre circumstances, all find themselves spending the night at a motel to wait out the dire weather which has flooded the highway. The party, which includes John Cusack, Ray Liota, and the smokin' hot Amanda Peet, begin to die off according to the order of their motel room numbers. Thus, the sultry Rebecca DeMornay (for an older broad, she looks goddamn hot!!), is the first to go since her room number is 10. The killer, counting down, goes about his grisly business... but did he really have to start at number 10? Rebecca is some serious eye-candy in the movie, and it's a shame that she makes her exit so quickly.

Hootie McBoob (DeMornay)

We only see the aftermath or brief flashes of the murders, leaving everything to our imagination. And by the time Identity ends, the audience is thrown for several major, unexpected loops. I'm happy that a movie with such low expectations could surprise and please us so much. Perhaps this is the problem with the Matrix Reloaded and the negative reviews it's garnered so far. The bar has been set so impossibly high with the first movie that the sequel will inevitably disappoint. The same goes for Terminator 3. T2 was such a great flick that it will be hard for a sequel, much less a PG-13 rated sequel, to top it.

Identity is enjoying because you come into the theater not expecting what you see. It's highly entertaining and surprisingly well though out and executed. Highly recommended.

Grade: A-