Crap-tacular

Rating: 5/10 (13 July 2003)

*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*
Good horror movies work best when you care about the characters. Thanks to a trite plot twist about half way through, I ended up not giving a hoot about the so-called "characters" trapped at the hotel in the rain with a killer in this well-made but ultimately bogus slasher/mystery flick. "Identity" starts off as a mildly entertaining combination of an Agatha Christie mystery and a good old "who's getting axed next" horror romp. But then it tries to be clever with the most over-used of plot twists (all I will say is MPD) and alienates the audience in the process. The cast is very good, especially Cusack, Liotta, and Amanda Peet (an interesting actress who really needs a new agent and more confidence, as I predict she could blow us away in the right role but who has been regulated to the worst comedies or recent memory), but they all could do better than this slick thriller that is more dumb than clever. I was almost ready to forgive the film and pass it off as a moderately enjoyable flick, until one final plot twist at the end irked me to the point that I hated it. The ending is ludicrous and is even more painful to sit through thanks to some of the worst special effects of recent memory (which was surprising considering the decent production values up until that point). Oh well...rent something else.