A throwback to the good old days of thrillers

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2003)

I have always been a sucker for a good thriller, a film that keeps you guessing, throws in red herrings, steers you in the wrong direction and gives you an ending you just didn't see coming. Identity' may seem like a standard old slasher thriller and ultimately it is, there's nothing remotely revolutionary, most of it borrows from past ideas and its pretty clichéd but that's the irony of the film. How do you explain the casting of Ray Liotta (Unlawful Entry') and Rebecca De Mornay (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle') who both played menacing terrorisers in the 90's and are now on the opposite end of the knife.
It's a stormy night in the middle of nowhere and a family have stopped to fix a punctured tyre. As the father (John C. McGinley) is changing the tyre, his wife (Leila Kenzle) is struck by a limo. With the wife gravely ill, the limo driver (John Cusack) attempts to get help and takes the family to a nearby motel. The torrential rainstorm also forces several other disparate people to seek shelter in the motel. Included are a young newlywed couple (Clea DuVall and William Lee Scott); a faded actress (Rebecca De Mornay) who was being driven by the limo driver; a prostitute (Amanda Peet) and a cop (Ray Liotta) transporting a killer (Jake Busey). Meanwhile the motel is run by a creepy manager (John Hawkes) who isnt all that he seems. The rain doesn't let up and the 10 strangers are one by one murdered. Who's the killer? Naturally the killer is the first suspect or is it the creepy motel manager? Could it be a ghost since the motel was built on an ancient burial ground? As the murders intensify, the remaining guests begin to find a connection to the murders. Meanwhile the film intercepts with an eleventh hour hearing for a man (Pruitt Taylor Vince) who is convicted of several murders and is about to be put to death. Is there a connection?
James Mangold hasn't really demonstrated his as good of a director as he is for attracting good casts and he usually has more talent than he can utilise with his past films including the star studded Girl Interrupted' and Copland'. In Identity', again he doesn't use his cast to the greatest effect (De Mornay is doomed pretty early on), but with such an ensemble cast, there isnt the need for any stand out performances because with more characters standing out than others, it puts the film off balance. Everybody is a suspect, nobody is immune, which is very important in figuring out the film because it doesn't go for the easy answer, it makes you think. This all leads to one of those trick endings, which makes you relive the entire film and put it all together. Some may not think it works, but it grabs you and also makes you kick yourself for falling for the detours and tricks the film has in hiding its secret. Its ending is the first conclusion that fooled me since The Sixth Sense' and Fight Club' from 1999.
Mangold though has a nice visual style and though clichéd, the brutal rainstorm is a necessity for a good thriller, it has an ominous effect that works well here. The motel setting is creepy yet authentic and again there's nothing terribly insightful here, but a standard setting with some killings. The industry has evolved that most thrillers rely on shock tactics to scare audiences, but Identity' doesn't have any gruesome scenes or outrageous deaths, it's relying on a terrifying and menacing script to creep the audience out and make them think like a good old whodunit. None of the cast are overly great, though Amanda Peet continues to prove herself a great actress while John Cusack and Ray Liotta may be photocopying past performances but they're still good.
Identity' is a good old thriller that deceives the audience, plays with their mind by giving them detours that go nowhere and requires them to try and piece together the mystery; before ultimately giving them an ending they probably would have never guessed. Its these type of films that make the thriller genre one of the best and we like to play detective and its good to get a good old scare and Identity' is an effective way to exercise our sleuthing capabilities.
My rating: 8 ½ / 10