An unpredictable, shocking, thrilling, edge-of-your-seat twister.

Rating: 8/10 (26 March 2013)

I am hard pressed to maintain a sterile review without giving away spoilers because IDENTITY is filled with surprises, twists and shocks that even veteran film critics did not see coming. Ten years after watching this film, I watched it again and believe me, I enjoyed this roller-coaster of a movie just like I did the first time.
Inspired by Agatha's Christie's "And Then There Were None", Michael Cooney's phenomenal story will have you strapped in your seat from the gruesome beginning all through to the gruesome end. The setup is a desolate motel in the Nevada desert where ten strangers will face their darkest and final hours, all before the night is over. Lashed by a violent thunderstorm, the motel comes alive when a man (John C. McGinley) rushes in seeking urgent medical attention for his wife (Leila Kenzie). By his side is their little boy Timothy (Bret Loehr). The family is helped by a limo driver (John Cusack) and a reluctant movie star (Rebecca DeMornay) he was driving before coming to their aid. A cop (Ray Liotta) transporting a chained prisoner (Jake Busey) also stops for the night. The downpour also sweeps in a newly married couple (William Lee Scott and Clea DuVall) and a Las Vegas prostitute (Amanda Peet). With the phone lines down and electricity on the blink, they prepare to wait out the storm. Elsewhere, convicted serial killer Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is about to be executed when his psychiatrist Dr. Mallick (Alfred Molina) discovers a journal. Rivers' journal throws new light on his conviction and Mallick calls for an eleventh-hour hearing on preventing the execution. Meanwhile our guests at the motel are being killed in a peculiar pattern, one by one, by an unknown murderer.
As they turn on each other to unmask the killer, director James Mangold opens a huge can of perfectly blended suspense and mystery while leaving the viewer with some very unavoidable questions. Is it the prisoner? Is it the weird motel clerk? Is it a character lurking in the shadows? And the most baffling question of all – What is the connection between Malcolm Rivers' hearing and the on-going butchery in a motel set in an entirely different location? Believe it or not, these are questions Mangold and Cooney have cleverly crafted just to pull the rug under your feet. Even if you have been watching and listening carefully, there is only the slimmest possibility you will find the answers before the director starts to untangle the mystery. This revelation is set at the beginning of the third act, with 30 minutes or so remaining, but perfectly timed to have the viewer's thoughts racing back to the beginning. Of course, by this time you will have either figured it out or you will be defenseless for Mangold's final blow. This is also when the narrative shifts from a whodunit to pure psychological horror with an omnipresent trace of the supernatural.
Leading an all-star cast, Cusack does a sensational job and along with Peet (they would co-star again in the apocalyptic 2012) maintains the sheer momentum of this plot twister. Liotta, Busey and John Hawes (as the motel clerk) add to the mystery but as you will find, these are small but vital blips in the bigger picture. In all, everyone does their part and at times appear to be a bit comical with characters shouting and screaming in tandem with the rising tension. Even so, this is merely the calm before the storm while the director gives you a little time to take in what is happening. If you liked the way THE SIXTH SENSE or SESSION 9 came crashing down on you, IDENTITY will do the same but the surprises keep coming at you instead of just one major twist reserved for the end. I think I have said enough. Anymore and I might give into the temptation of revealing the film's darkest but well kept secrets.