I can admit when I am wrong. In yesterday’s post, I said it was my pick for movie night. It was, in fact, not my pick (apparently I’m next week). Last night we watched IDENTITY (2003).
IDENTITY follows a group of strangers stranded at a roadside motel in Nevada during a nasty storm. One at a time, each stranger is murdered. All this is juxtaposed with a present-day storyline where the murderer (revealed about halfway through the film) awaits a verdict. The killer’s lawyer argues, based on new evidence, that his client is insane. Several red herrings and twists occur before the killer’s identity is revealed, and the final stretch of the film involves a really interesting if somewhat muddled psychological plot.
This film was fun, fast-paced, well-cast, and well-acted. Who doesn’t love an unhinged Ray Liotta? However, the script relies on the rather stale “not guilty by reason of insanity” trope, and gives away the killer’s identity a bit (or, perhaps, much) too soon in my opinion. That said, it really did something different than most whodunits, and for that, it’s an interesting counterexample to more formulaic films.
Jacob N. Given 