Psycho meets The Sixth Sense: I Don't See Dead People

Rating: 6/10 (27 April 2003)

"Identity" has some solid performances by several fine actors, not the least of which are John Cusack and Ray Liotta. The story and the plot have terrific potential. It could have been a great movie, despite being a somewhat shameless rip-off of a short film made a couple of years ago that manages to tell the exact same story in about 20 minutes (sorry, I don't recall the name of the low-budget, black and white short that appeared as filler between features on the Sundance Channel).
Unfortunately, this movie blows it BIG TIME at the end. I don't want to give it all away, but this is one of those movies that would have been an excellent psychological thriller if the writer and/or director hadn't decided that it needed a big surprise ending. They achieve this ending by suddenly splicing in a bunch of extra scenes at the very end that turn all of the build-up in the rest of the movie into nothing more than a bunch of red herrings. The ending chosen opens up a bunch of huge holes in the story that can only be explained away by a variant of the old "it was all just a dream" cop-out ending. Personally, I hate it when a film makes such a transition in a glaring, rough way that almost takes the viewer by the back of the neck, shakes him violently and screams in his face, "No, look stupid, we fooled you! Now look at all the things we didn't let you see during the rest of the film! Thanks for your $8.00, schmuck." I suppose the film makers HAD to do this, though, since the movie's twist is otherwise given away halfway through the film, at which point the balance of the movie is utterly predictable to anyone who hasn't been watching it with a burlap sap tied over their head. Clearly, desperate moves were called for in order to achieve a blockbuster ending. Did I say blockbuster? Change that to "lackluster."
This film could have raised a very interesting and original question about the nature of personality (and identity -- get it?), but instead, it lets itself be turned into "Psycho" meets "The Sixth Sense." Instead of "I see dead people," it turns into "I don't see dead people."
Big deal. It could've been a good one. Now it's poop.
If it weren't for the strong performances by Cusack and Liotta, I would've given this one a 5/10. I'll give it an extra point for those guys, though.