Excellent direction...

Rating: 6/10 (14 January 2004)

Review of James Mangold's Identity
Seemingly influenced in equal amounts by Fincher, Hitchcock and Agatha Christie, James Mangold has produced an interesting and intriguing piece.
Ten individuals with one thing in common find themselves stranded in a desert motel in the pouring rain. Cue the beginning of a string of gruesome murders, and the inevitability that all of the group will eventually become victims.
Filmed on a set bearing an immense resemblance to that of Psycho, the story is that of murder-mystery crossed with horror, culminating in an interesting, Fincher-esque twist. The basic premise of the movie is exciting to me, and it is shot with beautiful precision, in deep greys and reds, that combine with exceptional cinematography to give an awesome visual impression. The cast sets some established actors (Cusack and Liotta) with others (Amanda Peet and John Hawkes) with less experience, in an interesting ensemble.
Throughout the film, I was impressed with the shooting and general ambience created. The acting, whilst a tad patchy in places was convincing, and this aided the director in his attempts to inflict upon the audience suspense of Hitchcockian levels. The one let down in my opinion was the scripting. Michael Cooney has been responsible for some serious misjudgements of screen writing in the past. This is not one of them. Thematically, the movie is excellent, with, in my opinion (here differing to many critics) the last third delivering an admirable twist and interesting look at the psychology of criminals. But for me, the actual dialogue was less than impressive. Some of William Lee Scott's lines were delivered in pure accordance to the Tarantino style guide, which provided me with a smile, but most of the rest of the film was let down by interminably formulaic and unbelievable dialogue.
Overall, it seems to me that Identity is a triumph of direction, and is an exciting step in Mangold's career. Roger Ebert wrote in his review that the viewer could work out who committed the murders in the before this is revealed. I feel that this rather confused view of the film is one that many viewers will disagree with; and I essentially believe that this film is worth watching for all fans of a wide range of genres: the thriller, horror, and pure whodunits (especially anyone who has read Christie's And Then There Were None). But this is by no stretch of the imagination a modern classic. The dialogue is lacking too much in intensity for it to be classed in the same bracket as Fincher's first two films (Se7en and Fight Club) or indeed with any of Hitchcock's genre defining efforts. But in terms of enjoyable cinema, and well-educated direction, this is definitely worth a watch.