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Actors: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, Clea DuVall
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Identity |
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During a thunderstorm, a group of people are stranded at a motel. Suddenly, they begin dying one by one. An ex-cop who is now a limo driver and an escaped convict posing as a cop lead the investigation. People keep dying and nobody trusts anybody. Its then that you see that none of it is real. The whole thing is the imagination of a mental patient. The people are his multiple personalities in an imaginary situation. In an attempt to stop the killer he kills off all but two people, an ex-hooker and a little boy. He thinks the problem is solved until he realizes the boy was the killer all along.
--Brandon Swenson, Resident Scholar
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A group of strangers end up at a hotel and one by one they end up dead. They have to find out who the killer is and why they are all at the hotel.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
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Identity starts out as a plain ol' murder mystery whodunit. Big storm causes a prostitute Paris Nevada(Amanda Peet), driver Ed, and now-out-of-work actress Caroline Suzanne (John Cusack and Rebecca De Mornay), George York, Alice York and Timothy York (John C. McGinly, Leila Kenzel, and Bret Loehr), newlyweds Ginny and Lou (Clea Duvall and William Lee Scott)to get stuck in a sleazy motel. From that point on, you must be very astute and quick, as Identity is fast-paced and confusing if you're not paying attention. So don't leave the theater to go to the bathroom, you'll miss the whole thing. Each person in the story is a completely different character, and - if you're going to see the movie I suggest you stop because they're spoilers ahead - all figments of a convicted killer's imagination. Malcolm was sentenced to death for the murders of 6 people in a hotel. In his defense, a doctor induces his MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) and forces them to meet. So the entire movie is his subconscious. Each character gets killed, and keeps forcing Malcolm to see his identity. Each time a personality is killed, they each get a hotel key number. In the courtroom, they listen as each of his personalities talk together. If you didn't notice, almost each person's last name is a state. Paris *Nevada*, George *York* and so on. This is how the "murder" is solved. By the end, Malcolm is shown his true reflection after believing he is these individuals. Paris is the only surviving person and escapes the hotel to go to some orange orchard in Florida. As she is driving, Malcolm, after being acquited and sent to a psych ward, is also riding to the ward. It cuts to later, when she is breaking land under a tree with a hoe, that she sees a hotel key. Looking up, the little boy (Timmy York) kills her. We then see how each murder was committed gruesomely by the boy. Then it cuts to Malcolm who reaches through the partition and strangles his psychiatrist.
--TJ, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Identity |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 33.3%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 16.7%
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/Era of Movie:
- present (2000-2010)
Murder Mystery?
Yes
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 80%
Kind of mystery?
- skilled citizen investigator
Horror film?
Yes
Horror Plotlets:
- mad guy with knife likes to slice
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- cab driver
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
- Midwest
Desert?
Yes
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
How many deaths in film?
- 8 or more
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 1 (None)
Kind of violence:
- hand to hand
- guns
- knives
Unusual forms of death
- asphyxiation
- run over
- flamed
- impaled
- decapitated
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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