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A middle-aged couple with a child who doesn't speak (Bret Loehr) are driving in the storm in the
middle of the Nevada desert when a shot rings out—they get a flat tire. The mother (Leila Kenzie) comes out of the car while the father (John C. McGinley) checks out the
tire; then she is hit by a speeding limo driven by an ex-cop (John Cusack) working for a fading and spoiled movie actress (Rebecca De Mornay). They look for a telephone to
call for an ambulance and find a seedy motel, but the weird smirking clerk (John Hawkes) says the phone lines are down. Soon others seeking shelter from the storm and the
floods join them in the motel: a cop (Ray Liotta) transporting an escaped homicidal maniac (Jake Busey), a couple married just nine hours before (William Lee Scott and Clea
DuVall), a prostitute (Amanda Peet) wanting to leave her past behind. As lightning flashes and the light bulbs flicker in the howling storm, someone tries to
kill them one by one.
Is this heart-stopping brainteaser a classic whodunit or a horror film or both? As one
character after another dies a gruesome death, and the apparent evidence pointing to the killer disappears like blood washed away by the storm, the viewer is kept at the edge of
the seat, sure that the murderer is one of them, yet feeling that it could be an evil spirit responsible for the bloodbath. Most thrillers get you all tensed up at first,
then go on to a formula ending; Identity
starts with a formula beginning, goes on to reveal that it may not end as you think it will, and then ends in a way that you never thought it would—or would not. Directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Cooney,
Identity
is a breathtaking thriller that you would want to view a second or third time if only to spot loopholes or clues to its mystery. Acting is superb, notably that of Cusack the ex-cop driver, the only one who doesn't lose his cool when everybody else is screaming and blaming one or the other. Sound effects, lighting, music and cinematography—all work to keep you awake through the entire film.
It is definitely not a movie for children, but it does present an interesting case of how a
deprived childhood can shape—or mangle—a human being and determines his or her future. Some of the questions the movie might stimulate you into asking are: Are murderers
born or made? How does one become a psycho-killer? How does one get to be an accomplished cop? How would you find yourself reacting in that kind of situation
where gory accidents and grisly killings happen all in one night while you are marooned in a strange motel whose manager could be the murderer.
(Date Reviewed: October 31, 2003)
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