Identity Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)May 3rd, 2003
IDENTITY
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: A set of strange and apparently
dramatically contrived circumstances bring a
set of strangers to a motel in a very bad
storm. Then they start being murdered in
assorted ways like AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.
This is a strange mystery which is a variation
on the slice-and-dice horror film. It is a
different idea, but that is not enough to make
the film stand out. Rating: 5 (0 to 10),
low +1 (-4 to +4) [Minor spoiler]
A set of odd and unlikely events brings an assorted group of people to a cheap motel in an unrelenting rainstorm. There a killer runs loose, whittling their number down. The real problem with IDENTITY is its timing. By now if a film is going to cover the well-trodden field of a mad killer knocking off a bunch of people there has to be something new and novel in the approach. The fact of the film's mere existence points to there being some strange twist coming over the horizon. And the film lives or dies on whether that twist is sufficient reason for the film to be.
Ed (played by John Cusack) is an ex-policeman who these days is working as a driver for Caroline (Rebecca DeMornay). On a very rainy night he accidentally hits a woman who is standing in the road due to a flat tire caused by Paris (Amanda Peet). With the road out he cannot get her to help and takes her to a local motel. Meanwhile another policeman, Rhodes (Ray Liotta), brings his prisoner Robert Maine (Jake Busey) to the same motel for shelter from the weather. Through similar strange events, ten rooms are filled at the sinister little motel, but vacancies open up soon as murders take place, one at a time. This all has something to do with a hearing for a mental patient who has murdered several people.
If this all sounds like dozens of other movies, that is really part of the idea. This is a movie of cliches twisted together with a new approach. Most of what you are paying for in your movie ticket is to see the new idea. The film is not so much a "whodunit" as a "whatsgoingon." The movie mixes the strange with cliche, but it has more of the cliche and less of the strange. And the strange that is there is not strange enough.
IDENTITY is directed by James Mangold, whose mixed bag of films includes his riveting HEAVY and GIRL, INTERRUPTED, but whoalso plays with variations on more standard genres with COP LAND and KATE & LEOPOLD. The screenplay is by Michael Cooney, who seems to be best know for writing the "Jack Frost" horror films.
Is IDENTITY worth the price of admission? Not for me, it wasn't. It wasn't so much a "What???" experience as it was an "uh, okay" sort of experience. I rate it a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected]
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
