Identity

The secret lies within
The secret lies within
IDENTITY (15)
D: James Mangold
Columbia (Cathy Konrad)
US 2003
90 mins

Mystery/Thriller

W: Michael Cooney
DP: Phedon Papamichael
Ed: David Brenner
Mus: Alan Silvestri


John Cusack (Ed Dakota), Ray Liotta (Sam Rhodes), Amanda Peet (Paris Nevada), John Hawkes (Larry Washington), Alfred Molina (Dr. Malick), Clea Duvall (Ginny Isiana), John C. McGinley (George York), Jake Busey (Robert Maine), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Malcolm Rivers)

During a night of heavy rainfall, a group of strangers are left stranded at an isolated roadside motel where they are picked off one-by-one by an apparent serial killer.
Identity tries far too hard to be complex and clever with its plot twists, and despite being quite well executed visually, it leaves enough loose ends to trip itself over with. There's a handful of good performances and will keep you guessing throughout, although the ending is far from satisfactory, completely out of identity from everything that came before. Still, it's a unique twist on a derivative variant on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (qv).
6/10

John Cusack & Ray Liotta in Identity
John Cusack & Ray Liotta in Identity