A (relatively) old gem

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2017)

Spoilers warning: for a 14-year-old movie
Stumbling across this DVD recently, I looked up some reviews by both critics and users. A bit surprising that they are unanimously favourable.
The fiendishly tantalising thing in these critic reviews is the references to the clever twist. They generally tell you that it is so clever that you cannot possibly see it coming. Then, one or two of them drop torturous hints that well, maybe, just maybe you can get something from this or that particular scene. If you don't think you have truly experienced frustration, try reading some of these critic reviews on "Identity".
The main story, for those who know (from book or screen) Agatha Christie's popular mystery about ten people stranded in an isolated location being killed off one after another (title changed so many times, for political correctness, that I won't bother), look familiar. But look is deceiving.
The "parallel" story, intersecting the main story with much shorter scenes, starts with an exasperated judge being called in late hours to hear the defence's final plead for a serial murderer going to execution in 24 hours. The psychiatrist's defence is multiple-personality, which might be novel for the 2003 movie, has been exploited to the fullest in the recent "Split" (2016).
While the key plot twist was considered really clever back in 2003, it is less so for today's seasoned audience. It does not take a lot to put two and two together: the murder mystery is something in the serial killer's mind. With this one clean broad stroke, anything and everything that looks implausible is neatly exonerated. Not Agatha Christie after all - no ingenious plot.
But there is one small FINAL twist that is quite clever. In the murder mystery (in the serial killer's head, remember), the sole survivor finds peace and quiet in the life she seeks. But a loose end has been hanging – two of the earlier victims met their death heading towards a car that exploded, presumably killing them. But absolutely nothing remained of these two, not even a small piece of charred substance. This was glossed over in the scene. But when one of those two (a pre-teen boy) turns up to kill the "sole survivor", the audience is not really surprised. It would appear that this is the true killer. But those in the audience who take one more step in their thinking will remember that there is one other purportedly killed in the car explosion. It is a woman, who never appears again. She is most likely to be the final, final true killer. This, however, is never confirmed in the movie.
Despite the fact that the "clever twists" have lost their freshness, this is a movie well worth watching, for the good direction (James Mangold) and cast which includes John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes and Alfred Molina.