John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet and a host of other actors join forces in this ensemble thriller. The trailers were not too revealing and the plot wasn’t easily predictable. And so we find ourselves amidst an interesting and effective albeit different styled thriller.
A storm hits an area and forces together a group of strangers who become stranded in a nearby motel. As they all get to know each other a little better they discover that guests are being killed off one by one. Ok, so it sounds a little lame. It sounds like a run of the mill slasher with screaming, panic, confusion and unnecessary plot turns. But it’s not, so get past that and give it a chance.
Penned by writer/director Michael Cooney (responsible for the late 90’s slasher Jack Frost and sequel – but don’t let that deter you) Identity has earned high praise in breaking down convention and playing with the audiences’ sense on logic in a wonderfully different Hitchcockian style.
There are twists a plenty in this movie and the fact that some of the events occurring to these strangers are unusually odd you’re never given enough to make your own conclusions. You are fed new information throughout the film, which keeps you on your toes. At some points you are left guessing and wondering how can this all be concluded with suitable reasoning by the end of the movie? Coincidences and the strangeness of particular, at what first seem utterly ridiculous, strings of events defy sense. But it all builds up into the unexpected.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Identity is a well-crafted, suitably non-over complicated thriller. It turns and twists its way through the 90 minutes keeping you guessing and scratching your head till the very end. After the initial twist is revealed it does strain a little to keep itself afloat with interest but it carries it out.
