Film Reviews

Identity

• Rating:
• Director: James Mangold.
• Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, John C. McGinley, William Lee Scott, Jake Busey, Rebecca DeMornay.
• Details: US / 87 mins / (15PG).

A wild storm sees 10 strangers, who include ex-cop turned chauffeur John Cusack, prostitute (Peet), shady cop (Liotta) and a timid husband (McGinley) wind up at a secluded motel for the evening with the roads flooded and inaccessible. With the ten all running from or to something, and one of them seriously injured, it's inevitable that stress levels are rather high. Things get a whole lot worse when someone - or something, natch - begins murdering our guests one-by-one in gruesomely imaginative fashions. A slasher film attempting to pass itself off as something more intellectually stimulating, Identity requires the absolute and utter suspension of belief from its audience to succeed on any level. Without revealing too many details, the film contains an utterly outrageous, rather preposterous twist making The Sixth Sense's payoff look twee in comparison. And though the director mistakenly attempts to re-engage the audience on a new level after this outlandish revelation, Identity still has some good points. Mangold keeps the lightweight story moving in a brisk, professional fashion and shows a flair for tension, even if his methods are somewhat second-hand. The performances that he elicits from his cast aren't bad, either, with Cusack his dependable self and Liotta more low key than usual. Which is a lot more than you can say for that pesky plot. Still, you could do worse.

Review by Garreth Murphy