Identity Review
by Michael J. Gold (mjgold01 AT yahoo DOT com)April 30th, 2003
Identity ***
Directed By: James Mangold
Written By: Michael Cooney
Music By: Alan Silvestri
Ed: John Cusack
Rhodes: Ray Liotta
Paris: Amanda Peet
Ginny: Clea DuVall
Caroline Suzanne: Rebecca De Mornay
George York: John C. McGinley
Larry: John Hawkes
Lou: William Lee Scott
Robert Maine: Jake Busey
Running Time: 1:27
Rated R (for strong violence and language)
Reviewed by: Michael J. Gold
On the side of a highway, George York (John C. McGinley), father of a family of three, is changing the tire of the family minivan. His wife (Leila Kenzie) gets out to help and then while attempting to entertain her son (Bret Loehr) is suddenly struck by a limousine. Despite the protests of the passenger, has-been movie star Caroline Suzanne (Rebecca De Mornay), the driver, Ed (John Cusack), takes all of them to a nearby motel in search of a phone. The phone lines are down and Ed sets off in the limo in a vain attempt to bring back help.
The roads, however, have been flooded in both directions and Ed manages to get his limo stuck. He returns to the motel with a newly married couple (William Lee Scott and Clea DuVall) and an ex-hooker (Amanda Peet) that he had found stranded on the side of the road. The motel is run by Larry (John Hawkes) who despite having a firm dislike of prostitutes, rents each of them a room. Before long, a corrections officer (Ray Liotta) arrives at the motel along with a prisoner (Jake Busey) he is transporting.
That people are going to be murdered is a given. That the characters will all accuse each other is also a given. In order to successfully pull off such scenes, director James Mangold has assembled an extraordinary ensemble cast and the talent of these actors shine all through the film. He delivers an atmosphere of dread and we feel trapped with the characters as they struggle to survive the night and figure out who or what is killing them.
By carefully mixing the horror and suspense genres, writer Michael Cooney has managed to take elements of Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock and then with the help of James Mangold's direction create something uniquely their own. It is just as interesting to see how all of the characters ended up at this particular motel on this particular night as it is to see how they deal with the events and horrors that surround them.
With an interesting and imaginative story and superb performances, "Identity" becomes more than just a who-dunnit/slasher flick and transcends into a well-made film that will play well over and over again. Certainly Mangold plays with us throughout the film showing us little pieces of the overall puzzle. Those scraps of information might seem to be there to mislead us, and to some degree perhaps they are, but in the end they really are just smaller pieces of a much larger picture. Watching that picture take shape is just as much fun as solving the puzzle.
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