This one's a bit of a stretch. First off, some folks would classify "Identity" as more of a thriller, or a mystery. Also, it wasn't a box office bomb--it made 90,000,000 dollars on a 28,000,000 dollar budget. Even allowing for the unofficial rule that marketing can be about three times the stated budget, "Identity" should have at least broken even, or turned a small profit. The criticisms were similarly okay, but not spectacular--a 7.3 rating on IMDB, and 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, I think this 2003 movie doesn't get the credit it deserves, so here we are. It'll be the same format as always--short spoiler-free synopsis, then a long, spoiler-rich recap, then a discussion of the movie's themes and strengths, and ending with some information about the cast and crew. Also, if you haven't seen this movie yet, I would highly advise not reading the parts with spoilers, as there are some plot twists that should remain unknown if you want to fully enjoy the movie.
A late night hearing is held at a courthouse, concerning a convicted murderer, Malcolm Rivers, who's scheduled to be executed in mere hours. There is also a strange situation going on at an isolated shabby motel in the middle of the Nevada desert. Ten guests and the manager are trapped, as a torrential rainstorm has boxed them all in. One by one murders start happening, done by an unseen psychopath. As the night progresses the events become more and more unlikely--even impossible. What's the reason behind the murder spree, and how does Malcolm Rivers connect to this?
(SPOILERS AHEAD UNTIL MARKED) "Identity" opens on the tape recording of patient Malcolm Rivers, which psychiatrist Dr. Mallick is listening to. We learn about Malcolm's bad childhood, and prostitute mother. Newspaper clippings allude to a string of brutal murders. A judge is then called to an emergency hearing at the courthouse. Some suppressed evidence may forestall Rivers' scheduled execution, for the six murders he committed. The scene abruptly shifts to a run down motel. For the next portion of the film, the audience sees various events, and then flashbacks to how they occurred. Alice York is accidentally hit by a car during a rainstorm, driven by limo driver Ed, who's transporting washed up actress Caroline Suzanne. Alice's husband George and son Timmy take her to the nearby motel, which is run by manager Larry. Paris, a prostitute, discovers that the road east is blocked by a flooded stream. Ed tries to cross to get to the nearest hospital for help, but he's unsuccessful. Ed and Paris make it back to the motel in a car driven by newlyweds Ginny and Lou, who report that the road going west is blocked, too. All the phones, include people's cellphones, aren't working either. All the stranded people reluctantly rent rooms. Back at the courthouse, Dr. Mallick finds out that Malcolm Rivers is on his way.
Back at the motel another car pulls up. Inside is policeman Rhodes, accompanied by a prisoner, murderer Robert Maine. Rhodes requests a room at the motel, and tells Ed that his CB radio isn't functioning, either. Maine is handcuffed to a room's toilet for safekeeping. Ed manages to sew up Alice's severe neck wound using a needle and thread. The boy, Timmy, is revealed to be mute, traumatized by his biological father leaving years before. The audience sees that Rhode's shirt under his coat has an odd red stain on the back, and Larry seems to be sneaking around and hiding things. Caroline gets a weak signal on her cellphone. She wanders the motel grounds in the rain, trying to get a signal strong enough to call out. Suddenly she's attacked by someone.
Ed hears a noise, and investigates outside. After a search he finds Caroline's severed head in a laundry room dryer, accompanied by a hotel room key. Ed, Larry, and Rhodes discover that Maine has escaped, too. They round up all the other guests and tell them what's happening. While Ed, Rhodes, and Larry look for Maine, Lou and Ginny return to their room and have a heated argument. Ginny reveals that she's not pregnant, and locks herself in the bathroom. After Lou bangs on the door and yells repeatedly, he suddenly goes silent. Ginny slips out the window, and she and the others then find that Lou's been stabbed to death. Then we see Maine on the run. He heads for a distant set of buildings, and breaks into one. He's astounded to realize that he's somehow back at the motel. He's then recaptured, and Ed and Rhodes tie him up in the storeroom. Larry is assigned to guard him, and Maine mentions that he has a secret, and suspects that Larry does too.
Ed and Paris have a talk. He tells her that he left the police force after he was unable to talk a girl out of committing suicide. Bad headaches and blackouts resulted, causing him to become a limo driver. Another motel room key is found on Lou's body, and then Maine is discovered dead, with Larry's bat in his mouth. Larry denies killing Maine, but admits to stealing Caroline's wallet. During a scuffle Larry threatens Paris, and then the freezer comes open, revealing a frozen corpse. Larry tries to escape, but accidentally crashes his truck and kills George. Back at the courthouse Rivers' diary is examined, and shows different handwriting and tones. Rivers himself is brought in.
At the motel Larry claims he lost all his money gambling in Las Vegas, and then found the real motel manager dead. When no one came to claim the body he just put it in the freezer and started managing the motel. Ginny brings up the alleged Indian burial ground curse on the area, and also references the "10 Little Indians" story. The survivors try to establish a connection between all of them. Paris and Larry are both from the same county in Florida, and Paris has just bought a citrus grove there. Alice is discovered dead, and with the usual room key. Ed tells Ginny, Paris and Timmy to leave in a car, and just drive around. However, an explosion rocks the car. Ginny and Timmy are presumed dead, but no remains of their bodies are found. The survivors find that all of the previous bodies are gone now, too. And all the survivors, plus the deceased, have the same birthday.
Ed regains consciousness in the courthouse proceeding. After being questioned, Dr. Mallick reveals that "Ed" is only one of Rivers' split personalities. Malcolm developed them all after being neglected and abused as a child, and doesn't remember killing the six people. The motel events are Malcolm's personalities confronting each other, and "killing" each other off until only one remains. Back at the motel Paris learns that Rhodes is a convict too--he murdered the cop transporting he and Maine, and stole his identity. Rhodes kills Larry, and then he has a gunfight with the returned Ed. Both die. Paris leaves and goes to Florida, starting her citrus grove. At the courthouse the judge stays the execution, and Malcolm is sent to a mental hospital under Mallick's care. Malcolm is exhibiting the "Paris" personality. However, in his mind Paris is killed by the Timmy personality, who's revealed in flashbacks to have been responsible for all the personality "murders." In the real world, Malcolm/"Timmy" kills Dr. Mallick, and the transport van comes to a stop.
Let's discuss the biggest issue about "Identity" first, that of its main plot twist. Multiple Personality Disorder, now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is a very controversial topic in modern psychiatry. Many doctors question its main causes, and think that psychiatrists might actually start the other personalities using hypnotic suggestion (whether the doctors are aware of this or not). Some psychiatrists even think that DID isn't a real disorder, or at the very least it is not nearly as common as some would claim. For one example, some doctors think that Shirley Ardell Mason, known as "Sybil" in the famous book and movie about her case, might have not really had DID at all. Instead, they think that her doctor, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, may have made up the claim, or at least wildly exaggerated it, for professional and financial gain. So, at worst "Identity" may be about something that's a myth, and at best it's about something that is at least implausible. Along these lines, DID is something that fiction writers love, because it's such a dramatic twist. So one could also argue that it's a cliche, being overdone in soap operas, other television programs, and countless movies. Probably the only psychiatric disorder more overly utilized in fiction is amnesia. (Although to the movie's credit, it does contain the root cause that most adherents say is the usual one--severe childhood abuse.)
So with this admitted, why do I still enjoy "Identity," and why am I writing about it in such a positive way? The short answer is that I don't care. Yes, it's unrealistic, and exaggerated, and possibly about something that doesn't even exist, but so what? I don't really believe in ghosts, demons, werewolves, vampires, or zombies, for example, but I love many books and movies that feature them. It's dressed up enough to seem somewhat scientific, so I can let it go, and suspend my disbelief. I get that some people can't get past this point, and I can respect their opinion. But clearly I was able to move past it and still enjoy the film.
Another common criticism of "Identity" is that it tips its hand too soon, and ruins the big plot twist. Which I also disagree with. We don't see "Ed" revealed as one of Malcolm's personalities until about 75% of the way through the film. And even after that revelation, there's still tension, as we want to see a "good" personality triumph. So we don't want to see Rhodes prevail and kill off Larry, Paris and Ed. Even though the separate personalities aren't really people we still know them a bit, and like some of them. Therefore, I think the film unfolded in the best way it could have. Some explanation for the bizarre-ness of the situation was needed.
Related to this is the frequent red herrings sprinkled throughout the movie, which I found effective. The biggest is Malcolm, of course--we know he's a prolific murderer, so initially we think the motel events are real, and it's a flashback showing Malcolm killing the people off one by one. But there are others, to keep the audience off balance and confused. The motel is allegedly built on a Native American tribe's burial ground, so at times it seems like supernatural creatures, perhaps vengeful ghosts, are behind the killings. And early on we think that Robert Maine is doing the murders, since he's done it before, and was on the loose when some of them took place. There's even a case to be made that Larry's the real killer--he acts suspiciously, hides things, and seems nervous in general. Eventually we discover it's because he's a petty thief, and took over the managing job under false pretenses, but before that he seems culpable. Especially when the frozen body of the real manager falls out of the freezer, and Maine is killed during a time when Larry was supposed to be watching him. The final red herring is Rhodes. There are clues that he's not legit--we briefly see the blood on his shirt, and he seems shifty and incompetent, and later in the film we learn that he's a murderer, too. There's even another subtle reveal as he dies. He says, "I didn't do this" to Ed as he expires, stating he's not the mystery killer of most of the "people" (personalities), aside from Larry and Ed, obviously. Finally, the motel keys are a nice tangible clue, too--they're found to be counting down the total number of personalities left, and they don't actually match the room the victim had rented out. So maybe I'm slow at picking up who the real killer is in murder mysteries, but I thought this all unfolded in a cool way, that kept me guessing until the end. The implausibility of certain details, or outright impossibilities, grow more significantly as the movie goes. Which makes sense for the story, since the motel events are only happening in Malcolm Rivers' mind.
I also found it kind of neat to go back later and figure out why Malcolm developed the different personalities that he did. Timmy being maladjusted and nearly mute because of his father's abandonment is surely based on the real Malcolm apparently not knowing his own real father, and the bad feelings this produced. The ludicrously focused and loving stepfather George is presumably the type of father Malcolm wished he had. And Alice York is similarly the type of stable and caring mother that Malcolm always wanted, instead of the real prostitute mother he did have, who was neglecting and probably abusive. Larry is probably based on the real life sleazy motel manager at the place Malcolm was "raised" in as a neglected child. Paris is clearly a version of Malcolm's real mother, only a better one. She's a hooker, but she's decent, and looking to switch careers and improve her life. Robert Maine and Rhodes are probably based on real life murderous convicts that Malcolm met in prison, and/or perhaps the way he acted as an actual prison inmate. Ed is the guy Malcolm most wants to be--a cool, smart, and resourceful cop. Who, realistically, suffers from PTSD and blackouts, like Malcolm really did. The remaining personalities are more difficult to figure out. Ginny lying to Lou about being pregnant is a type of thing that Malcolm might have done in real life in order to stop a lover from leaving. I can't really figure what Lou and especially Caroline come from--I suppose in Malcolm's diseased mind developing personalities is like eating potato chips--the more the better!
Some viewers might be disappointed by the violence in "Identity"--there's not a lot of blood, and most of the murders are done off screen, and we just see the result. But, I think the scenes still have decent tension behind them. And given the plot twist, it was really the only choice the filmmakers could do. Granted, it's not a typical horror slasher movie, so if you're looking for that you'll probably be frustrated. But those who like a strange and tense, slow burning mystery will probably enjoy it.
(END SPOILERS--SAFE FOR ALL READERS) Director James Mangold has had a solid, busy career. Highlights of it include writing and directing "Copland" (1997), "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), "Walk the Line" (2005) and "Logan" (2017), and directing "3:10 to Yuma" (2007), "The Wolverine" (2013), and "Ford v Ferrari" (2019). He's also slated to direct the upcoming 5th Indiana Jones movie in 2022.
The cast of "Identity" includes a lot of recognizable names. Ed Dakota was played by John Cusack, arguably best known for roles in "Sixteen Candles" (1984), "The Sure Thing" (1985), "Better Off Dead" (1985), "Stand by Me" (1986), "One Crazy Summer" (1986), "Eight Men Out" (1988), "Say Anything" (1989), "The Grifters" (1990), "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994), "High Fidelity" (2000), and "1408" (2007). Samuel Rhodes was played by Ray Liotta, known for roles in "Field of Dreams" (1989), "Goodfellas" (1990), "Copland" (1997), "Hannibal" (2001), "Blow" (2001), "Narc" (2002), and "Smokin' Aces" (2006). Among Paris Nevada portrayer Amanda Peete's career highlights include "She's the One" (1996), "The Whole Nine Yards" (2000), "Changing Lanes" (2002), "Something's Gotta Give" (2003), "Syriana" (2005), "2012" (2009), and "Identity Thief" (2013). John Hawkes (Larry Washington) was in movies like "Freaked" (1993), "From Dusk til Dawn" (1996), "Rush Hour" (1998), "The Perfect Storm" (2000), "American Gangster" (2007), "Winter's Bone" (2010, for which he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar), "Martha Marcy May Marlene" (2011), "Lincoln" (2012), and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2017). Clea DuVall (Ginny Virginia) was in such films as "Can't Hardly Wait" (1998), "But I'm a Cheerleader" (1999), "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), "21 Grams" (2003), "Zodiac" (2007), "Argo" (2012), and on the HBO series "Veep" from 2016-19. Caroline Suzanne was played by Rebecca De Mornay, remembered for roles in ""Risky Business" (1983), "Backdraft" (1991), "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" (1992), "Lords of Dogstown" (2005), "Mother's Day" (2010), and "American Reunion" (2012). John C. McGinley (George York) was in such films as "Platoon" (1986), "Talk Radio" (1988), "Wall Street" (1987), "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989), "Point Break" (1991), "Seven" (1995), "Office Space" (1999), "42" (2013), "The Belko Experiment" (2016), and television's "Scrubs" (2001-10). Jake Busey (Robert Maine) appeared in movies like ""Straight Time" (1978), "The Frighteners" (1996), "Twister" (1996), "Starship Troopers" (1997), "The Predator" (2018), and the Netflix series "Stranger Things" (2019). Malcolm Rivers was played by Pruitt Taylor Vince, who was in such films as "Angel Heart" (1987), "Jacob's Ladder" (1990, see my post on April 4, 2020), "JFK" (1991), "Heavy" (1995), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), "The Cell" (2000), "Constantine" (2005), "Butter" (2011), and "The Devil's Candy" (2015). Alfred Molina's (Dr. Mallick) resume includes "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), "Ladyhawke" (1985), "Not Without My Daughter" (1991), "Species" (1995), "Dead Man" (1995), "Boogie Nights" (1997), "Magnolia" (1999), "Spider Man 2" (2004), and "Frida" (2002). Finally, the small role of the district attorney was played by Marshall Bell, probably best known for appearing in "Birdy" (1984), "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (1985), "Manhunter" (1986), "Stand by Me" (1986), "No Way Out" (1987), "Total Recall" (1990), "Natural Born Killers" (1994), "Starship Troopers" (1997), and "Capote" (2005).
Therefore, in summation, I think fans of intricate murder mysteries should give "Identity" a watch. It's nice and tense, and keeps you guessing until the end about exactly what's happening.
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