Identity, Review Options

[Pradeep]

Cast: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet
Direction: James Mangold

Identity, directed by James Mangold, is a gripping psychological thriller that actually owes more to the horror genre. It all starts out on a stormy night, when 10 characters take shelter at a seedy motel. There's a limo driver and ex-cop (John Cusack), a cop (Ray Liotta) accompanying a prisoner in chains, a former actress, a family with a child, a newly-wed couple and a hooker (Amanda Peet). In true Agatha Christie tradition, the characters keep getting bumped off one by one. It soon becomes clear that they are not random deaths but something connects all these apparent strangers. And if they don’t find out all the connections real fast, they’ll learn that life can be solitary, nasty, brutish and short.

The prisoner in chains is an obvious suspect, and the writer Michael Cooney cheerfully strews the plot with red herrings that keep you guessing till the end. The story keeps intercutting to the trial of a prisoner on death row who is to be executed the next day, with a last-minute appeal on grounds of insanity. Slowly, it becomes clear how the fate of the trapped strangers are connected with his. But when the end comes, it’s like the conclusion of Sixth Sense, when you have to re-run the movie in your head in light of the climactic revelation to make sense of it all.

The pace remains taut throughout. John Cusack puts in an efficient, controlled performance. He is about the only one who can keep his head while all about him are losing theirs (metaphorically and literally). In the smaller roles, Amanda Peet is convincing as the hooker with a touch more sang froid than the rest, and the motel manager (John Hawkes) puts in a sharp cameo. The film treads the thin red line between reality and fantasy. Frankly, it is an example of how a stylish Holly wood production executes a film with conviction, even it’s all leading to an ending that, while perfectly logical, is really a big dollop of pop psychology.