Rish's Reviews
I looked forward to this one from the first time I saw the trailer. After a half-dozen missed deadlines, the film finally opened in April of '03, and I was there opening night. And I'm glad I was.
The plot is both simple and surprisingly complex. The simple explanation is that a group of strangers find themselves stranded at a run-down motel during a storm and a twisted spiral of freak accidents. There are ten of them: an ex-cop (John Cusack), a distraught husband (John C. McGinley) and his injured wife and mute little boy, a hooker on her way to a better life (Amanda Peet), a pair of grating newlyweds (including a constantly shrieking Clea DuVall), an aging, demanding movie star (Rebecca DeMornay), a creepy-looking cop (Ray Liotta) and his bug-eyed, grinning prisoner (Jake Busey), along with the skittish motel manager . . . but not for long. Someone (or is it perhaps something?) begins to kill them in bizarre fashion, and they start to realize they may have something in common after all.
Like I said, that's the simple explanation. But the complex one lies with a seemingly-unrelated subplot back in civilization, where a condemned prisoner gets one last chance to avoid execution. And perhaps that's all I need to say.
This was really, really fine stuff, filled with tension, conflict, mystery, and interesting characters. The ending just helps illustrate what I'm always saying, but was a nice surprise and left me smiling.
Director Mangold (who wrote the script to the Disney flop Oliver & Company, for God's sake) created an enjoyable film that took an old idea and turned it on its ear, making me feel, at least, that I was seeing something entirely new. It was produced by Cathy Conrad, who also did the Scream flicks, and was very professionally done. Dude, you know they did a good job when I actually LIKE a character played by Amanda Peet (!).
But all the credit can't just go to them. The script is really . . . Could this really be the same Michael Cooney? Seriously, I mean it. There is no way that the purveyor of the shite known as Jack Frost 2 could have written this. It is impossible. I refuse to believe it. In fact, he DIDN'T write it. As simple as that.
I wholly recommend Identity. It was the best Horror of 2003 so far.
Best Scare: The reveal of the first victim elicited a scream from me, which you'd think couldn't happen after as many films as I've sat through.

The tyranist's thoughts
I'm as big a John Cusack fan as I know so when they finally started showing trailers and promotional material on TV in the backwoods village I call home, I was itching to see this. To me it looked like a combination of my two favourite genres, Horror and Film Noir. In the end it was much more the former than the latter, but I was very pleased either way.
So I didn't make it opening night, but I hustled down to my local multiplex Monday afternoon to take this one in. Wouldn't you know it, I was the only one there. Literally. At one point, I scared myself so bad, that I moved several rows back in the theatre so that I could watch the only entrance in case anyone came in behind me with a knife and murder on the mind. I have to say watching horror movies (especially one as engaging as this) in a completely empty theatre is an entirely different experience.
So before I get to all the positive things I have to say about the movie, there are two things I'd like to dwell on for a moment. First, was that really Michael Cooney's name on the script? I mean, come on. That guy couldn't write his way out of a bad Fox sit-com. Still, if it really was him, does that mean I have to start respecting him? The movie was so well constructed and so intricate that I have to think that perhaps he's been hiding his true talents.
Second, I really dug on the movie and as the truth is revealed liked finding out what was really going on. Unfortunately, it also stole a little bit of the intensity for me. The ending was well-thought out and excellently executed, but I felt that the immediacy of it all dropped a couple notches right there at the end. What does that mean in terms of my enjoying the movie? Not much. And honestly, it was the only flaw I found and the fact that I want to push it under the table says a lot about how much I liked the flick.
Okay, on to the plaudits. John Cusack was great in the ex-cop role. This is where much of the film noir feel of the movie comes from. Each character has a desperate, interesting back story that seems to have thrown them into this gruesome situation. Classic Noir.
I also really dug on Amanda Peet, which didn't surprise me as much as I know it must have surprised Rish. Ray Liotta and Jake Busey are as creepy as ever. Actually, now that I think about it, John Cusack and Amanda Peet played the only two characters that didn't creep me out at least a little. Well, except for the mostly comatose housewife. She just didn't have much screen time.
The mystery of the movie is very well-constructed. So much so that I found myself waking up the next morning still thinking about it and still finding small revelations about the movie occur to me. I'm going to have to see it again. Perhaps I will have to see it repeatedly. The movie is well worth the time and money spent to see it.