Identity (film)

Identity
Identity film poster
Directed by	James Mangold
Produced by	Cathy Konrad
Written by	Michael Cooney
Starring	John Cusack Ray Liotta Amanda Peet Alfred Molina Clea DuVall Rebecca De Mornay John Hawkes John C. McGinley William Lee Scott Jake Busey Pruitt Taylor Vince Bret Loehr
Music by	Alan Silvestri
Cinematography	Phedon Papamichael Jr.
Editing by	David Brenner
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	April 25, 2003
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
Box office	$90,259,536

Identity is a 2003 American phychological thriller-mystery film, directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Cooney. The film stars John Cusack, Ray Liotta, John C. McGinley and Amanda Peet. The plot was inspired by Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None.

Plot

Malcolm Rivers (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is awaiting execution for several vicious murders that took place at a motel. His psychiatrist, Doctor Mallick (Alfred Molina), has discovered a journal belonging to Rivers that may explain why he really committed the murders. With this late evidence brought forth, a new hearing takes place on a stormy night in which Mallick will try to persuade the Judge (Holmes Osborne) to spare Rivers. Meanwhile, a group of 10 strangers find themselves stranded in the middle of the storm in a remote motel in the Nevada desert, run by the manager Larry Washington (Hawkes). The 10 strangers are a limo driver, Ed Dakota (John Cusack); an 80's movie star, Caroline Suzanne (Rebecca De Mornay); a cop, Officer Rhodes (Ray Liotta), who is transporting a serial killer, Robert Maine (Jake Busey); a prostitute, Paris Nevada (Amanda Peet); a pair of newlyweds, Lou (William Lee Scott) and Ginny (Clea DuVall) Isiana; and a family in crisis, George (John C. McGinley), Alice (Leila Kenzle) and Timmy (Bret Loehr) York. With the phone lines down due to the storm, the group prepare to spend the night, taking care of those who have been injured through their arrival. However, the group quickly finds that there is an unknown murderer present, killing off each of the guests and leaving behind one of the motel's room keys to be found, starting with Room 10's key and counting down.

Caroline Suzanne is the first to be killed, and Ed finds her head in a dryer. Ed thinks that Maine killed her and when he, Rhodes, and Larry check the convict, they discover he has escaped.

All the other people become increasingly worried, and Ginny runs to her room despite been told to stay put. Her husband Lou chases after her but is also mysteriously murdered. Meanwhile, Ed and Rhodes find the con, knock him out, tie him to a pole and put Larry on duty guarding him. Everyone calms down when they realize that the con is caught, but he is later found dead with Larry's baseball bat in his throat. Rhodes is furious, and Ed finds Suzanne's wallet in Larry's box. Larry then panics and holds Paris at knife-point, but she escapes and discovers a dead body in Larry's freezer. With everyone distracted by the frozen corpse, Larry attempts to escape in his truck, claiming he did not kill anybody. He then accidentally runs over George, killing him instantly.

The survivors tie up Larry who tells them his story but does not get much sympathy from Rhodes, but the others believe him when he says he did not kill anyone. Meanwhile Timothy's mother dies, presumably from her injuries (Ed accidentally ran her over). Ed then tells Paris, Timmy, and Ginny to leave the motel, against Rhodes' wishes. Ginny and Timmy both die when their car blows up, but their bodies are nowhere to be seen. The remaining four discover that all the bodies have now disappeared and that all 10 share the same birthday. Paris also discovers that Rhodes is a convict as well and that he stabbed a police officer to death and took his place. Rhodes sees her look through his car and attempts to kill her, but she is saved by Larry, who in turn is shot dead by Rhodes.

At the hearing, the contents of Malcolm's journal are revealed, indicating the prisoner suffers from an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder, harboring 10 distinct personalities. Mallick is able to bring forth one of Malcolm's personalities, Ed, revealing that events at the motel are occurring inside Malcolm's mind, each personality being a distinct person though all sharing the same birth date. After hearing of events in the motel, Mallick informs the Ed personality that he must find and eliminate the hostile personality in order to prevent Malcolm from being executed lest all the personalities be killed off. In the motel setting, as the group is dwindled down, Ed believes that the personality of Rhodes is the murderer, and sacrifices himself to kill Rhodes, leaving only Paris alive. When Mallick demonstrates that the homicidal personality is dead, the Judge decides to place Malcolm in a mental institution under Mallick's care.

As Malcolm is driven along with Mallick to the institution, in Malcolm's mind, Paris has driven away from the motel to her hometown, Frostproof, Florida. As she tends an orange grove, she discovers the Room 1 motel key in the ground, and turns around to find Timmy standing behind her. Timmy, the true homicidal personality, had orchestrated all the deaths at the motel, and made it appear that he had been killed as well; he finishes his task by killing Paris, reciting Hughes Mearns's "Antigonish". Now driven only by Timmy, Malcolm strangles Mallick, and the van runs off the side of the road.

Cast

The Alter characters

• Amanda Peet as Paris Nevada, a Las Vegas prostitute.
• John Cusack as Edward "Ed" Dakota, a limousine driver and a former L.A. police officer.
• Ray Liotta as Samuel Rhodes, a convict impersonating a police officer.
• John Hawkes as Larry Washington, the motel owner.
• Clea DuVall as Ginny Isiana (née Virginia), a superstitious newlywed.
• Leila Kenzle as Alice York, a wife and mother who is injured in a car accident.
• John C. McGinley as George York, Alice's husband and Timmy's stepfather.
• Bret Loehr as Timothy "Timmy" York, Alice's son and George's stepson.
• Jake Busey as Robert Maine, Rhodes' partner in crime, acting as his prisoner.
• William Lee Scott as Lou Isiana, Ginny's husband.
• Rebecca De Mornay as Caroline Suzanne, an 80's Hollywood TV actress that is chauffeured by Ed.

Other cast

• Alfred Molina as Dr. Mallick, a psychologist
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Malcolm Rivers, a convicted serial killer
• Carmen Argenziano as Marty, the defense lawyer
• Marshall Bell as the district attorney
• Matt Letscher as the assistant district attorney
• Holmes Osborne as Judge Taylor
• Frederick Coffin as Detective Varole
• Joe Hart as Bailiff Jenkins
• Michael Hirsch as the naked businessman
• Terence Bernie Hines as a bailiff
• Stuart M. Besser as Larry, the real motel owner

Production

All shooting was undertaken in the United States. With some in Lancaster, California and other places in Los Angeles County the majority was shot on a sound stage at Sony Studios in Culver City.

Reception

The film has a rating of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 165 reviews. It has scored 64 (generally favorable reviews) out of 100 on Metacritic.

External links

• Official website
• Identity at the Internet Movie Database
• Identity at Box Office Mojo