Identity

I've never before seen a film that made me sit on the edge of my seat practically from the opening credits. And I never got to sit back.

This was a psychological thriller of the best type. There is plenty of opportunity for you to nominate the "bad guy" and while you may be right in a sense you will probably also be wrong. The ending is a real shocker - and I suspect that the typical reaction of many viewers is to say "No way" - but if you think about it, it is the only possible ending. But you have to think about it - and the film is so action-filled that you never have time. SO the realization must come after the closing credits roll.

I'd never seen John Cusack in anything but a comedy before (except for a film called "Max", but I saw that before I knew who Cusack was). He pulled off drama equally as well as he does comedy. An impressive talent.

And an impressive film.

At the start of the movie, Dr. Malick is evaluating Malcolm Rivers, who is about to be executed for a series of murders, unless Malick can convince those who need to hear that Rivers was insane.

Then a seemingly unrelated series of events take place. And while we don't see Malick or Rivers again for a while, they are somehow connected with these events too. Exactly how I've never quite figured out.

The one common thread is that all the parties involved (except Malick) are driving through rural Nevada in heavy rain that is causing so much flooding everyone will end up at this one motel. A hooker who wants to grow oranges in Florida, the spoiled actress Carolina Suzanne and her driver Ed, the York family, newlyweds Ginny and Lou, and Rhodes, who is transporting prisoner Robert Maine.

Motel clerk Larry calmly checks everyone in, not exactly upset by all the chaos. But there's no working phone, and one of the potential guests seriously needs emergency help. Ed tries, but there's too much flooding to make it to a hospital and even cell phones don't work.

Ed, a former cop, tries to take charge of the situation, though Rhodes seems to think he should be in charge. And then people start dying. And the prisoner escapes. The newlyweds are in Room 6, and the number falls, making it look like a 9. The main clues to the murders are keys found with the bodies, and the keys seem to be showing up in sequence--10, 9, 8, 7 ...

So who will survive? Who is really behind the murders? And how are Malick and Rivers connected to all this?

I found the early scenes fascinating. Everyone was connected to everyone else, and if one event hadn't happened, none of the others would have. Eventually, I was just plain confused because I didn't know what was going on.

And when the murderer was finally revealed, he or she was not really revealed. I felt like I had heard three different possibilities but not been told which one was the right one. Then again, maybe I was told more information than was needed, and some of it was irrelevant. But I can't believe they would go THIS far ...

There were a lot of good acting performances. I genuinely dislike John McGinley, but he played a totally different character here than what I am used to. He seemed compulsive and somewhat mentally ill but genuinely desired to do the right thing.

Gary Busey was scary and almost funny, not too different from some of his other bad guy characters.

Bret Loehr didn't have much to do early as the little boy who had lost one parent and seemed likely to lose two more. But he was quite good later.

John Cusack carried the movie. He showed frustration but also competence. His character wasn't perfect but he wanted to do the best he could and didn't have patience with those who didn't care about others or couldn't handle the situation.

And Rebecca DeMornay did the demanding celebrity routine quite well.

I'm not going to recommend this for family viewing because some of the bodies are hard to look at.

It's mostly a worthy effort.

On a dark and stormy night 11 strangers have to take refuge in an isolated motel when a rainstorm turns into a monsoon. One by one they begin to be killed...but by who and for what reason?

The set-up is neat (if predictable) and there's a great opening showing how the actions of one of them (Amanda Peet) inadvertantly causes some serious damage for the others. There also is some great acting by Peet, John C. McGinley and Ray Liotta (who REALLY chews the scenery). There are also some moments that will make you jump and there are two neat twists at the end.

The only bad things about this movie is some clumsy exposition (John Cusack tells his whole life story while photographing a corpse), some truly bad lines and a surprisingly lousy performance by Cusack. What's happened to him? He looks worn-out and haggard in this film.

However, these are minor problems and the film is well worth seeing and keeps you guessing about what's going on till the last moment. Worth catching.

WARNING: This film is NOT for children!

This is an excellent film from a solid director at the top of his game. Most attempts at making a "twist film" fall flat on their face; This is one of the great ones. It's greatness lies in it's simplicity and the way in which it very compellingly weaves thrills, scares and exposition within the film's strong taut structure, leading to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.

The actors are all uniformly brilliant. Ray Liotta again is absolutely a standout performer as he was in Goodfellas for which he was rightly lauded for and John Cusack's brilliant turn makes us wish he had put in a similar performance in his more recent outings since.

I won't ruin it for you, but if you like thrillers, or just compelling stories in the Thriller genre, just watch it. Watch it now! 8/10

This movie totally surprised me on every level. I had never even heard of it until recently; when an observant video store clerk noticed how many thrillers I was hiring and suggested it.

Having missed it at the movies, I figured it would be the usual B-grade mystery murder flick, a bit of fun at best. Instead this movie had me hooked from the opening sequence; I almost thought they'd put the wrong DVD in the box!

The story is like one big twisted, turning tunnel- with barely a glimmer of a light at the end. The cast is great, the setting appropriately scary- with no short measure of red herrings to keep you guessing.

The cast really delivers too; the characters are diverse and given enough attention to keep you engaged but not so much as to slow the action down. John Cusack is in fine form as the easily likable ex-cop trying to hold it all together; Jake Busey plays the psychotic to perfection as usual.

I don't usually go in for gore, but there's really barely more than a few hints of blood & guts. Definitely one to watch in the dark with a group of friends to scare the hell out of yourselves. You won't regret this one.