Director James Mangold who penned such movies as "Girl, Interrupted" and "Copland" gives such a beautiful directing job here setting an excellent mood appropriate for a murder mystery such as this. Every scene is almost like a very bad
nightmare a person would have with a deserted terrain, a dark and stormy night and a very creepy desolate motel in the middle of nowhere run by a spineless manager. All of the setting is utterly perfected here with great cinematography as well with setting that resemble stunning moving paintings and portraits.

Along with some top notch direction and editing, there is also an admirable ensemble of actors here that make this watchable some great people like the always enjoyable John Cusack who plays the likable limo driver Ed, Ray Liotta being his usual edgy enigmatic self as officer Rhodes escorting the one note but funny Jake Busey, and there's John Hawkes who plays the sketchy motel owner, Hawkes is always a treat, as well as Clea DuVall, the great John C. McGinley, Alfred Molina, Pruitt Taylor Vincent and the sexy Rebecca De Mornay as the prima Donna movie starlet Caroline.

"Identity" is one of those films where the director and writer have all the right pieces of the puzzle: the right elements to an excellent thriller, yet none of them know how to bring it all together and assemble it with a great picture, but everything remains jumbled. "Identity" has the perfect mood, the perfect atmosphere, the perfect ensemble cast of utterly talented actors, the right tension, but the wrong delivery and inevitably it attempts to become too smart and eventually becomes too big for its britches.

"Identity" is the perfect example that a perfect great cast does not a masterpiece make. Watch out for the spoilers because they'll be scattered throughout the review. If you haven't seen this film and don't want the surprises ruined, turn back now. Ten strangers are drawn together in a dark and stormy night in the middle of nowhere in a motel, one that looks shockingly similar to the Bates Motel and its run by a weasly clerk named Larry. A couple stops in the middle of the road after getting a flat tire, and as the nimble husband George attempts to fix the flat, his wife is run over by a passing limousine driven by the quiet Ed who is driving a prima donna starlet Caroline across country. They then flee to the motel and while Ed attempts to look for help picks up prostitute Paris...no, not Hilton.

They're all led into the motel where the enigmatic officer Rhodes arrives with his psychotic convict Robert Maine. And that's when the bodies begin piling up. Instantly, Ed, the quiet limo driver, begins taking control revealing himself to be an ex-cop. He's a reluctant hero amidst the carnage that ensues among the group of people; some feel threatened by his instant control over the situation, and some seem content, willing to follow him. After one of the marooned victims at the hotel turn up brutally killed, soon, as always, paranoia begins to ensue, and on comes the story which completely rears off into material I just couldn't tolerate. Soon, everyone is potentially a murderer, the young hooker, the little boy, the creepy hotel owner, the cop, the ex-cop, all in the spirit of Agatha Christie with a bit of "Murder on the Orient Express".

This has basically all the telltale signs of a horror story: a dark and stormy night, an abandoned hotel, and all a bunch of sketchy characters, but pay attention to the clues as I did. The film starts off with Alfred Molina as a psychiatrist interviewing a vicious killer from a prison and we enter into the story. What do the opening scenes have to do with the
actual story that takes place in the motel? Well, you have to sit through this to discover it. I was very anxious to watch this film right from the teaser trailer, I mean it has some of my favorite actors starring, and a story that drew my interest.

But the main problem is, that writer Michael Cooney also tries really hard to become a brain twister that just isn't twisted enough, and tries to be a really sophisticated murder mystery, however it's not sophisticated enough to try to spend time to figure out. The climax also especially made me angry because of it's sheer audacity in trying to stun the audience with an ending that isn't that stunning to begin with. Alfred Molina who appears in little segments throughout the story is completely wasted and I was never really involved with the characters and their situations that they were faced with throughout the horrific ordeal.

The movie tries really hard to be frightening and suspenseful but really just comes off as a novelty act and a gimmick with a bunch of great actors doing what they're doing best, and the audience will spend most of the time reeling from two good actors being on screen with one another instead of focusing on the story, which isn't really that elaborate in the first place. We get the usual attempted character chemistry, arguments, paranoia and whatnot, but it's never really involving with the audience.

By the end of the film, "Identity" really tries to stray away from the murder mystery formula and end as a shocking psychological thriller, but fails upon delivery with a "surprise" ending that is never really surprising, just pretentious.

Though there is an excellent cast of actors, and they do really well playing off each other, and while James Mangold capture a beautiful horrific mood amidst the hotel, but this is ultimately a very jumbled, uninteresting thriller that tries too hard to be original.

• Several endings were filmed in order to shroud the real conclusion in secrecy.
• The first name of Ray Liotta's character is Samuel
• Director James Mangold also worked with Ray Liotta in "Copland".
   

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