Identity
Rent & Buy
Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
What critics thought
James Mangold's puzzle-box thriller wins admiration for its atmosphere and structural ambition, but critics were sharply divided over whether the third-act twist is a stroke of ingenuity or a narrative cheat that collapses everything built before it. Audience scores have held warmer than critical ones, suggesting the film plays better as a late-night genre experience than under analytical scrutiny.
“I've seen a lot of movies that are intriguing for the first two acts and then go on autopilot with a formula ending. Identity is a rarity, a movie that seems to be on autopilot for the first two acts and then reveals that it was not, with a third act that causes us to rethink everything that has gone before. Ingenious, how simple and yet how devious the solution is.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“so ingeniously constructed that these meta-noir ingredients feel dizzyingly enjoyable, never hackneyed. In fact, the overheated melodrama of Identity is crucial to its method—and the key, in some ways, to its narrative secrets.”
Andrew O'Hehir·Salon
“a piece of elegant directorial hackwork by James Mangold, [who] goes through its generic paces with enough flair and mystery to keep you moderately entertained. The apparent premise, creaky though it may be, holds ample opportunity for suspense and second-guessing, and Mr. Mangold handles the revelations and reversals of Michael Cooney's script with nerve-racking aplomb.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“The ultimate cliché of plot-twist implausibility, the crucial revelation is so outlandishly fatuous it might have given Donald Kaufman pause. But there's nothing self-parodic about Identity—the viewer must not only swallow the nullifying third-act bombshell but actually re-engage with the movie on its new, extremely dubious terms.”
Dennis Lim·The Village Voice
“This film's cardinal sin was not that it had an engrossing but extremely far-fetched setup to a lackluster resolution—a resolution that probably sounded good during the initial script pitch, but which nobody realized was going to be such a misfire until the production was already at the point of no return.”
Brian McKay·eFilmCritic.com
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- none
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
Cast & Crew
James MangoldDirector
John CusackEd
Ray LiottaRhodes
Amanda PeetParis
John HawkesLarry
Alfred MolinaDoctor
Clea DuVallGinny
John C. McGinleyGeorge
William Lee ScottLou
Jake BuseyRobert Maine
Pruitt Taylor VinceMalcolm Rivers
Rebecca De MornayCaroline Suzanne
Carmen ArgenzianoDefense Lawyer
Alan SilvestriComposer
Michael CooneyWriter
Phedon PapamichaelCinematographyIdentity
Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.
What critics thought
James Mangold's puzzle-box thriller wins admiration for its atmosphere and structural ambition, but critics were sharply divided over whether the third-act twist is a stroke of ingenuity or a narrative cheat that collapses everything built before it. Audience scores have held warmer than critical ones, suggesting the film plays better as a late-night genre experience than under analytical scrutiny.
“I've seen a lot of movies that are intriguing for the first two acts and then go on autopilot with a formula ending. Identity is a rarity, a movie that seems to be on autopilot for the first two acts and then reveals that it was not, with a third act that causes us to rethink everything that has gone before. Ingenious, how simple and yet how devious the solution is.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“so ingeniously constructed that these meta-noir ingredients feel dizzyingly enjoyable, never hackneyed. In fact, the overheated melodrama of Identity is crucial to its method—and the key, in some ways, to its narrative secrets.”
Andrew O'Hehir·Salon
“a piece of elegant directorial hackwork by James Mangold, [who] goes through its generic paces with enough flair and mystery to keep you moderately entertained. The apparent premise, creaky though it may be, holds ample opportunity for suspense and second-guessing, and Mr. Mangold handles the revelations and reversals of Michael Cooney's script with nerve-racking aplomb.”
A. O. Scott·The New York Times
“The ultimate cliché of plot-twist implausibility, the crucial revelation is so outlandishly fatuous it might have given Donald Kaufman pause. But there's nothing self-parodic about Identity—the viewer must not only swallow the nullifying third-act bombshell but actually re-engage with the movie on its new, extremely dubious terms.”
Dennis Lim·The Village Voice
“This film's cardinal sin was not that it had an engrossing but extremely far-fetched setup to a lackluster resolution—a resolution that probably sounded good during the initial script pitch, but which nobody realized was going to be such a misfire until the production was already at the point of no return.”
Brian McKay·eFilmCritic.com
Parents guide
- Violence
- severe
- Sex
- none
- Profanity
- moderate
- Substances
- none
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
Cast & Crew
James MangoldDirectorJohn CusackEdRay LiottaRhodesAmanda PeetParisJohn HawkesLarryAlfred MolinaDoctorClea DuVallGinnyJohn C. McGinleyGeorgeWilliam Lee ScottLouJake BuseyRobert MainePruitt Taylor VinceMalcolm RiversRebecca De MornayCaroline SuzanneCarmen ArgenzianoDefense LawyerAlan SilvestriComposerMichael CooneyWriterPhedon PapamichaelCinematographyRent & Buy