Identity

Year of release : 2003

Run time : 1h30m

Genre : Horror / Mystery

Cast : John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, Clea DuVall, John C. McGinley, Jake Busey, Alfred Molina, Rebecca De Mornay, Pruitt Taylor Vince

The movie was inspired by the 1939 Agatha Christie mystery novel "And then there were none".

A psychiatrist is preparing for a late night hearing, as his patient is scheduled for a mass murder execution at midnight. He plays a poem he recites, and looks over his journals, which can prove he suffers from split personality.

A few people drive across Nevada, their paths intertwining. A family stops by the side of the road, as their car's tire is destroyed by the heel of a shoe which fell in the middle of the road from the suitcase of Paris when she opened it while driving.

The mother's attention is on the son she plays with, and she takes a step back, towards the middle of the street. She is hit by a car.

The man driving is a former cop, Ed, now a driver for an actress. He wasn't paying attention to the road as he was looking for a spare battery for her phone, while outside was pouting raining.

Paris reaches a sort of dead end, as the heavy rain flooded the road.

Ed drives the actress' limo to a motel, and leaves the injured woman with her family there, and the actress, as he tries to get help, as there is no phone signal.

Paris' car breaks down, and is found by Ed, who takes her with him. They stop as they can't cross due to the roads being flooded. Another car drives by, two newly weds, and they all get back to the hotel.

New customers arrive, a cop with a convicted murderer he is transporting.

Ed sews the neck of the woman who is bleeding, and the rest of the people settle into their rooms.

The actress goes out into the rain trying to get phone signal, and is being k1lled. Ed finds her head in the washing machine, with the number 10 room key. But she wasn't given room 10.

Because the convict escaped they think he did it.

The convict seems to be trying to run away from the motel, but seeing what seems to be the motel in the distance, he ends up in the same place, as if whoever is trying to leave this place can't.

Lou and Ginny have a fight, as she tells him she is not pregnant. And when she opens the door to the bathroom she locked herself into, she finds him dead. Key number 9 is next to him. But they were in room 6.

They find and catch the convict, and tie him up on a chair. When they come back, he has a baseball bat down his thr0at with key number 8 next to him, and they catch the hotel owner with the actress' wallet full of money. He pulls his knife to Paris' neck, and tries to drive away, but runs over George, the step father, who's wife was hit. When they catch him they tie him up, and he tells them an unbelievable story, as they find a body in the freezer.

While all this happens at the hotel, we see the psychiatrist, the lawyers and the judge talking about the condition of the mental patient who suffers from dissociative identity disorder, while is pouring rain outside. The judge believes he is a k1ller, and deserves the punishment he was given.

I personally enjoyed the movie, it's one of my favorite from the early 2000s. It's an atmospheric movie, it rains the whole time, and the action takes place in one night.

All the characters are flawed, as Paris steals from her clients, the actress doesn't care about people in need (she doesn't care about the woman who is bleeding), the motel owner steals the actress' money after she dies and doesn't want to rent a room to Paris, as he calls her a prostitute (I don't know how does he know what she does for a living) , Ginny lied to Lou she's pregnant to marry her, because he is cheating on her.. and the cop might not be one.

The actors were great. Clea DuVall, had to cry a lot. I love how John Cusack played at the reveal. And how Amanda Peet played when she realizes the k1ller came for her. Pruitt Taylor Vince who had to play the mental patient was doing this thing with his eyes, the idea being that he was in his head the whole time. John C. McGinley played this character who was a bit nerdy.

The poem the characters recite saying they came up with it, is by William Hughes Mearns, and it's called "Antigonish".

The soundtrack was good.

The movie opened at number one, and grossed 90.3 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 28 million.

The movie received positive reviews, with Cinema Score audiences grading the movie a B.

John Cusack was the first choice to play his role.

You can watch the full movie here, for free :

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9h60c2

Rating : Worth a watch !