mrschristine.com

Identity

Published March 28, 2025

Identity

Film info

  • Title Identity
  • Director James Mangold
  • Year 2003
  • Run time 1hr 30m
  • Genres Mystery, Thriller
  • Tagline The secret lies within

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.

Live blog

Time Comment
4:39 Watching Wheel of Fortune with shots of whiskey would be better.
10:15 You don’t want a convertible in rain like this.
13:10 “Didn’t you used to be that actress?” Rude.
17:16 The way things keep happening that affect other things, it’s very Final Destination.
20:47 “A little temper problem.” Mmhmm.
33:29 “That’s police talk for someone getting their head lopped off.”
37:23 Nine hours into a marriage and you end up in these circumstances!
47:14 Excellent psychotic smile.
48:08 “You’re a complicated cat, Edward.”
53:33 This part of the film feels quite messy.
57:05 Ooh, didn’t see this twist, him not being the owner of the motel.
1:02:40 I do like the conceit of the room keys counting down.
1:21:54 Oh, Ed was the best one.

Thoughts

It took me a while to adjust to this film, partly because I hadn’t quite realised it was a slasher thriller (given the cover, that’s completely my bad) and also because it was billed as a version of And Then There Were None and it’s very very loose. But I did like the way it dipped about in time and backtracked and started pulling everything together. I’m not sure if the dissassociative identity thing is supposed to be a twist but it was pretty well signposted throughout. It was a very interesting thriller though and the end, oof, I didn’t see that coming.

Rating: 3 / 5

← Previous Book Club: The Next Chapter
Next → Meet the Fockers