*** Official "IDENTITY" Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

Stinker. Pulls a Dreamcatcher.

Was very good up until one point.

When you find out that all the characters are just made up in this guys head, you no longer care about the characters, or what's happening with the story, or the room keys, it's all just becomes "who cares what this idiot thinks in his head"


How can they make a good story and ruin it with such a stupid twist. You can't forgive this twist, it's not just a minor flaw, it makes the whole movie pointless and not worth the time.

The acting and suspense up until the last 1/3 of the movie was great. I couldn't wait to see what was going on with these people, then...well..you find out what happens.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "Identity". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

 

[Justin_S]

I saw this film not this past Tuesday, but the Tuesday before at a special screening/sneak preview after waiting for it for almost a year, and I'll be damned if it wasn't more than worth the wait and the trouble I went to to see it early! This is easily one of the best horror films in years, that's right, YEARS, and is definitely THE best film of 2003 so far in my opinion (IRREVERSIBLE is 2002)! I loved how everything turned out in the end, and the actors (all of whom I love, especially my beloved Amanda Peet who is an absolute goddess) were great as expected! I'll be seeing this again later tonight and a few more times afterwards. Anyhow, I can say that this film gets a perfect :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: from me, and its going to be hard for any other films this year to top it.

Trust me, if you're remotely interested in this, go see it immediately! Its a new classic in almost every way if you ask me.

The ending with it turning out that everyone was just some psycho's multiple personalities getting killed off by another of the personalities is one of the best and most unexpected twists I've seen in ages, and its truly awesome and original!
This whole film is just spectacular!

 

[DavidBelis]

I absolutely LOVED the movie.

I completely disagree with Steve_Tk.
I thought that the movie started out pretty mediocre, and progressively became better and better until the very end.

I thought it was brilliant.

 

[AJ Johnson]

I also loved this movie. Good performances by the whole cast, creepy atmosphere, and twists that kept me interested through the whole thing.

The very end with the kid pounding that rake thing in his hands gave me chills. He looked so evil with that smile.

 

[Dave_P.]

Loved it!

 

[Patrick Sun]

There are a few spooky scares in the film (literally, the woman in the row in front of me jumped a foot out of her seat at one scene and let out a scream too). As the pieces start to fall into place, I found the film a bit predictable (as many clues were shown without much in terms of subtlety), but nonetheless, the film is entertaining enough with a good cast of actors that gave the performances as dictated by the story that you'll get your money's worth out of the price of admission.

I give it 3 stars or a grade of B.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Interesting. Steve's first spoiler...I'll call it the conceit of the film did to me something very similar as it did to him. The conceit shifts everything (as it should), and in that process, I quit really being involved. It's a great twist, nd I am certain it sounded incredible on paper, but the lead-up, the revelation, the finale, and the coda didn't all fit for me. The direction was excellent, but the story structure fell apart a bit when he conceit was revealed.

Great idea, extremely well-done, with great acting. The whole was a bit less than the sum of the parts.

I loved John Cusack, as usual. Great cast. The red herring was almost too easy, but hey.

In all, I would rather have rented it.

7/10 for excellence all around, but didn't work for me.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I didnt find the film anywhere near as bad as Dreamcatcher. There is no comparison.
Identity was a good film from start to finish.
Great performances from everyone and I enjoyed it allot.
The only thing I thought was a bit out there was...the Halloween like ending where the guy in the front seat unlocks the devider and then the guy kills them both.



Funny how one of the posts said they didnt like the trick ending but everyone was eating up the Memento and Sixth Sense trick ending.

I say check it out. One of the better films in a while.

 

[Matt Stone]

If you've checked out the discussion thread, you can see that I didn't like this film. I found it quite predictable, and it fell apart in the third act. For the first hour or so I was really pumped, I was thinking "Man...I'm going to buy this one!" and then bleh...standard Hollywood showing.

As for the Memento/Sixth Sense thing...I'd say that Memento didn't really use a trick ending. I was also one of the few that wasn't too impressed with the Sixth Sense, although I felt it worked much better than Identity.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Great cast, the twist or trick was telegraphed quite a bit ahead.
Movie comes off like an extended Twilight Zone episode.

Actually spent alot of the movie looking at Alfred Molina and imagining how he'll look as Doc Ock!

I enjoyed and give it a B.

This is not a movie I need to see again though.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Let me caution those that add their reviews to this thread not to reveal too much about film. Let those that haven't seen the film find out about a certain item when they see the film in question. If you need to discuss such an item, please do so in the discussion thread. Thank you. Also, no need to respond to this post.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I'd have to say that Identity stands as the best film I've seen this year. It works well at everything that it tries to achieve and is done with just the right amount of style to be rewatchable without being distracted by what you already know.

The film begins solidly with a short series of vigniettes, some time leaping, to efficiently introduce the principle characters. Their method of weaving the storyline into these scenes is quite good, as event and coincidence tie the characters together.

The characters themselves are interesting but relatively shallow with the exception of a few key people. However, I don't consider the less fleshed out characters to be liabilities in the overall scheme of things. The actors across the board are great choices and make the most of what they have. I especially liked Rebecca DeMornay as the person who "used to be that actress" and William C. McGinley as the father of a family who isn't altogether there. Getting the three principle actors (Cusack, Peet, and Liotta) couldn't have been better, and they all push the film to a great degree.

I loved the story of the film and the pacing of it was spot on. The setup for the motel was very well done and new characters were introduced just at the point where I was getting to know enough about the ones already there. When people start to die, the film ratchets up the suspense a great deal. Although some of the normal cliches of people running off on their own is used repeatedly, in a sense it makes sense in retrospect. I was surprised also at the amount of gore in the film, which is well used but nonetheless shocking. There is a scene in the film which reminds me of one of the "hell" frames from Event Horizon.

As with most films these days, there has to be a twist. The twist in Identity is well earned and quite good. I also don't think it will ruin the rewatchability of the film, again due to the excellent casting and memorable scenes.

I'd highly recommend it with a solid :star: :star: :star: 1/2 (out of four).

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

I enjoyed Identity, but once the film's twist is revealed, it's a total decline in quality. Thankfully, the film's twist doesn't totally ruin the film. The film does have a lot of good things going for it, but the twist is the worst aspect of the film. If the twist was more thought out and executed better in the final product, it could've worked. Here, the twist is just thrown at the viewer with few real clues heading towards where the film is going or any in depth reasoning why the twist is there.

And the twist ending is nothing like Memento or The Sixth Sense. Memento didn't have a twist ending (or twist beginning for that matter) while at least The Sixth Sense provided (better) reasoning (reasoning being the main word) for the twist. As I said, the twist is just thrown at the viewer. You either grasp on and enjoy, or throw it away and just stop caring for the movie. I just continued watching the film noting the twist was bad. The final scene of the film is good, but the twist is just bad.

The film's first two acts are great along with the acting (everybody is good, even Alfred Molina), but the film loses steam during the third act. I liked it, may rent the DVD, but I probably won't buy it unless it's a "director's cut" where things are actually explained more.

 

[Arman]

Identity (A) is the smartest & chilling slasher film (since Psycho) with the most clever & original ending which is not really unpremeditated neither it's a tricky twist to fool the audience. Here's hoping Identity is no fluke and that James Mangold will be the 21st century's Alfred Hitchcock and he will make this type of films in the future. Hopefully, he will replace those directors who are making those cliche & stupid films like I Know What You Did Last Summer/Scream/Darkness Falls/Final Destination/Slasher Crap series.

 

[John CW]

Seriously enjoyed this movie, except I actually guessed the ending WAY early on in the film. That's never happened to me before either, I usually never get "the twist" until it is revealed to me! (Usual Suspects, Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Unbreakable etc... never came close! !)

Did anyone else get it WAY before they should have? Despite making a big chunk of the film kind of boring (because I knew the explanation) I still enjoyed it and didn't know exactly HOW it was going to end either!

Great flick, highly recommened! I even thought the first half (with the supposed average "slasher" stuff) was well done too!

Edit:

Here, the twist is just thrown at the viewer with few real clues heading towards where the film is going or any in depth reasoning why the twist is there.

~ John

 

[Tim Glover]

Saw this tonight. Had high hopes during the first act, then just continually cared less and less about the characters. Some good performances however, especially John Cusack.

I'll go into more detail on the discussion thread.

:star: out of :star: :star: :star:

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Like other films before it, the key to enjoying Identity is to be able to accept an underlying premise that is not fully revealed until much later in the film. It serves as the foundation to which its story is entirely based on. Director James Mangold takes his time in unveiling this key revelation while providing some clues along the way. Those who are unable to accept this key plot point are bound to have problems with the film.

Identity is a very crafty psychological thriller because its entire narrative rests on and is fully supported by this key revelation, which in this case, happens not be an afterthought but instead, one that is well thought out. Its entire story along with its little details would not have worked any other way had this main plot point was missing. It is the main ingredient that fuses together the numerous intricate elements in the screenplay into a fine brainteaser.

Mangold is to be complimented for providing the right atmosphere, mood and tension to accompany Michael Cooney’s clever script. The entire cast is very good in their respective roles.

~Edwin

 

[Seth Paxton]

Guess I should have posted my review here too. This is what I put in the 2003 film thread.

Identity
7.5 of 10
A pleasantly interesting thriller that had a higher rating till the last act became a little heavy handed. Before that point it really had me locked in despite some rather flat characterizations (though those also play out well for the needs of the narrative). Until the about 5 minutes before the last act kicked in I had no idea what was going on, but from then on I knew everything 10 minutes before it was happening.



Regarding this film and the other 2 films mentioned in those spoiler bars and how the "twists" work for me...

Memento...I agree that not only isn't there a twist, but just a normal investigative narrative progression. And I think the strength of that film is in its main 3 characters, frontward or backward the film is good to me.

Sixth Sense..."I see dead people" in the trailer, Bruce gets shot, fade to black (dead), no hospital scene (dead). I knew right then for certain and saw every clue the rest of the way. I still think its a good film, but I was hoping that Bruce being dead wasn't the big finale, so it let me down.


Identity...I didn't put it together until they said their birthdays. Before that I thought that magic of some sort had been used by the real killer to get revenge or something. But after that point I knew it would be the person we least expected and that they wouldn't be gone for good either, so I was a bit let down in the last act

 

[JoeyPalmiotti]

After being so mad at the ending my friend and I walked out of the movie theater laughing very hard to ourselves, realizing that the absurdity of the ending is very much like Donald Kaufman's script in Adaptation! LOL So true once you think about it.....