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| Identity |
| Genre |
Horror/Mystery |
| Starring |
John Cusack and Ray Liotta |
| Director |
James Mangold |
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“Identity” starts out like a standard horror film, but evolves into a very complex mystery with a number of twists. The film is well thought out and stays two steps ahead of the viewer at all times.
James Mangold, writer and director of the critically acclaimed “Cop Land” and “Girl Interrupted” has a reputation for mixing genre stories with moving human drama. His writing partner Michael Cooney, is best known for writing and directing the straight to video horror-fests “Jack Frost” and “Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman”.
I expected their collaboration to result in a kind of thinking man’s horror film by adding human emotion and intelligence to an outrageous situation. But “Identity” ultimately evolved into a much more complex and interesting film than I could have expected.
The film also has the benefit of a great ensemble cast: John Cusack (“High Fidelity”), Ray Liotta (“Narc”), Amanda Peet (“Changing Lanes”), John McGinley (“Office Space”) and Rebecca DeMornay (“The Hand that Rocks the Cradle”).
After a flood has submerged all of the "exit routes," a diverse group of strangers finds themselves stranded at an isolated motel. They include: Ed (Cusack), a former cop who is now a limo driver; Caroline Suzanne (DeMornay), the washed-up movie star Ed was driving; Rhodes (Liotta), a corrections officer making a prisoner transfer; Maine (Jake Busey), a convicted killer in shackles; Paris (Peet), a Las Vegas hooker on her way to Florida, two newlyweds Ginny (Clea DuVall) and Lou (William Lee Scott); motel manager Larry (John Hawkes); and George (McGinley), an ineffectual man with a mute stepson and a seriously injured wife. As the rainy night wears on, the murders start. One-by-one, the motel guests are systematically picked off. Ed and Rhodes work feverishly to uncover the killer's identity as a bizarre connection unravels.
The part of the film that demands your close attention is the
several flashback scenes, most of which take place around a
table where a psychiatrist (Alfred Molina) together with a defense
attorney tries to convince a judge that his patient (Pruitt Taylor
Vince), a convicted mass murderer scheduled for execution in 24 hours, should be declared insane and sent to a state hospital. What's confusing until the final sequences is that the flashbacks seem unrelated to what's going on in the motel.
The film has a remarkably short running time, but every second is well spent building tension to the breaking point. From the very beginning, the introduction of each character is told in quick-cut flashbacks to show what action or event put them or someone else into their current predicament, even showing the same event from multiple points of view. There's a lot to learn about these people in a very short time, and all of it is important.
In “Identity” all the standard scare tactics are turned on their head and by the end you no longer know what kind of film you're watching. Is the killer even human? Are the people really dying? Could I ever get so scared that I actually lose control of my bowels? I would argue that part of the appeal of “Identity” is dealing with it’s complexity and attempting to answer all the questions. The key is that the major surprises are not an add-on designed to blind-side an audience like the twists in “Basic”. Instead, it is carefully woven into the movie's fabric. It is foreshadowed and if you were paying attention it is possible to understand everything.
BOTTOM LINE: “Identity” is in intriguing film that will generate both discussion and confusion. But it is one of the most engaging and fascinating films in recent memory and might lead the viewer to see it for a second time. B+ |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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