Identity (film)


Identity is a 2003 American psychological slasher film directed by James Mangold from a screenplay by Michael Cooney. The film stars John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall and Rebecca De Mornay.
While the plot is not a direct adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1939 whodunit And Then There Were None, the story draws from the structure of the novel. Ten strangers arrive at an isolated hotel, become temporarily cut off from the rest of the world, and are mysteriously killed off one by one. Several events which take place in the hours before the characters' arrival are introduced at key moments in the film using reverse chronology structure.

Plot

A convict named Malcolm Rivers awaits execution for several vicious murders that took place at an apartment building. Journals belonging to Malcolm are discovered mis-filed in the case evidence, not introduced during the trial. Malcolm's psychiatrist, Dr. Malick, and his defense attorney argue that the evidence was intentionally suppressed by the prosecution and move to stay Rivers' execution, contending that Malcolm is legally insane. With this late evidence brought forth, a midnight hearing takes place, to determine if the journal is adequate evidence to grant their motion.
Meanwhile, ten strangers find themselves stranded in the middle of a torrential rainstorm at a remote Nevada motel, run by Larry Washington. The group consists of an ex-cop, now limousine driver, Ed Dakota; Caroline Suzanne, a washed-up actress; Officer Rhodes, who is transporting convicted murderer Robert Maine; Paris Nevada, a prostitute; newlyweds Lou and Ginny Isiana; and the York family, George, Alice and their nine-year-old son, Timmy, who are in crisis because Alice has been struck by Ed's car.
With both ends of the road completely flooded, the group is forced to spend the night at the motel, but an unidentified killer begins to murder them one by one. Sequentially numbered keys are found near each of the first three victim's bodies, leading the group to suspect that they are being targeted in order. They discover that the motel's brochure describes Native Americans being buried next to the motel, and consider that the bizarre deaths could be the work of some supernatural element.
At the hearing, the contents of Malcolm's diaries are revealed, indicating Malcolm suffers from an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder, harboring eleven distinct personalities. His journal contains entries written by his different personalities, each with distinct handwriting and prose, as if they were the personal thoughts of several different people. His defense attorney argues that Malcolm is completely unaware of the crimes for which he is being executed, which is in violation of existing Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment. Dr. Malick is introducing the concept of integrating the personalities of someone with dissociative identity disorder, when Malcolm arrives, strapped into a wheelchair.
At the hotel, two people die in clear accidents, but numbered keys are still discovered near their bodies. Attempting to flee, two more guests are apparently killed when their car explodes. However, after the fire is extinguished, no bodies are found, and the group then discovers that the bodies of all the previous victims have disappeared. Paris, yelling in hysterics at their unknown assailant, says that her birthday is the next week; it transpires that all eleven people were born on May 10 — which is also Malcolm's birthday, and the day he committed the murders.
Ed hears a voice call out to him, and as he listens he finds himself in a different building, strapped to the chair, with Dr. Malick calling out to him. Ed finds he is at the meeting to argue and postpone Malcolm's execution, but is confused as to why he's being told of the crimes and Malcolm Rivers' past. Dr. Malick explains that he is in fact one of the personalities that Malcolm Rivers created as a child to cope with the abandonment and abuse he was subjected to. Informed that one of the personalities is the homicidal template that went on a killing spree, Ed is instructed to "go back" to the motel to try to eliminate this identity.
Ed 'awakens' to find himself standing in the rain, looking at the motel from a distance. Paris finds convict-transportation files for both Maine and Rhodes in the police car. A flashback reveals that Rhodes killed the correctional officer transporting him and Maine, putting the officer's body in the trunk, and then assumed his identity. Rhodes attacks Paris, but she is saved by Larry, who is then shot and killed by Rhodes. Believing Rhodes to be the murderous personality, Ed goes after him, and they end up shooting each other fatally, leaving only Paris still alive.
When Malick demonstrates that the homicidal personality is dead, Malcolm's execution is stayed and it is determined that he should be placed in a mental institution under Malick's care. In Malcolm's mind, Paris has driven back to her hometown in Frostproof, Florida. As she tends to some soil in her orange grove, she discovers the room 1 motel key, and finds Timmy behind her. Flashbacks reveal that Timmy orchestrated all of the deaths at the motel, and made it appear that he had been killed with Ginny. Timmy kills Paris, while Malcolm strangles Malick, causing the van that is en route to the mental institution to swerve off the road and stop before Timmy's voice repeats the poem "Antigonish" by William Hughes Mearns one more time, now the sole personality of Malcolm Rivers.

Cast

All filming was undertaken in the United States. Some took place in Lancaster, California and other places in Los Angeles County, while the majority was shot on a sound stage at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.
Angelo Badalamenti was originally signed to score the film, but his music was replaced with a new score by Alan Silvestri.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62%, based on 173 reviews, with an average rating of 6.38/10. The site's consensus states: "Identity is a film that will divide audiences -- the twists of its plot will either impress or exasperate you." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 points based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Film critic Roger Ebert wrote upon the film's release, "Altogether, there are 10 guests. One by one, they die. Agatha Christie fans will assume that one of them is the murderer—or maybe it's the clerk... I think it is possible that some audience members, employing Law of Economy of Characters, might be able to arrive at the solution slightly before the movie does."
Mick LaSalle of SFGate reported, "At first, Identity seems like nothing more than a pleasing and blatant homage to the Agatha Christie-style thriller where marooned guests realize that a murderer is in their midst... we've seen it before. Yet make no mistake. Identity is more than an entertaining thriller. It's a highly original one."
The Village Voice's Dennis Lim wrote of the film's premise, "The premise of the one-rainy-night thriller Identity seems like mothballed Agatha Christie," and of the film's third act twist, "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."
Brian Mckay of eFilmCritic.com wrote, "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. No, what Identity is guilty of most is bad timing—it simply gives away too much, too soon. At about the halfway mark, the film's big "twist" will finally dawn on you. And once it does, you will no longer care what happens afterward."

Box office performance

Identity opened on April 25, 2003 in the United States and Canada in 2,733 theaters. The film ranked at #1 on its opening weekend, accumulating $16,225,263, with a per theater average of $5,936. The film's five-day gross was $18,677,884.
The film dropped down to #3 on its second weekend, behind newly released X2 and The Lizzie McGuire Movie, accumulating $9,423,662 in a 41.9% drop from its first weekend, and per theater average of $3,448. By its third weekend it dropped down to #4 and made $6,477,585, $2,474 per theater average.
Identity went on to gross $52.1 million in the United States and Canada and $38.1 million overseas. In total, the film has grossed over $90 million worldwide, making it a box office success against its $28 million budget.

Accolades

The film was nominated for Best Action, Adventure or Thriller Film and Best DVD Special Edition Release at 30th Saturn Awards, but lost to Kill Bill Volume 1 and , respectively.