Thursday, March 9, 2023

2K Replay: IDENTITY

by Adam Riske
Nominated for “Trippiest Movie of the Year” at the Golden Schmoes Awards. It lost to Kill Bill Vol. 1.

• Best Scene/Moment: Any scene between John Cusack and Amanda Peet.

• Best Song: “All My Life” by Foo Fighters.
• Best Merch: A “Rare Identity Movie Promo Shirt.” The shirt is size Large and goes for $38.00. The seller says it’s never been worn (good) but it’s also wrinkled (fixable) so make sure you have an iron or the total cost of ownership will exceed the aforementioned $38.00.

• Director Check: Identity was directed by James Mangold. Mangold is an interesting director. His career would lead you to believe he’s a director-for-hire/journeyman type, but he’s so adept at genre hopping that it seems unfair to diminish him with those descriptions. He began his career at Disney as the writer of 1988’s Oliver & Company before making his directorial debut with Heavy in 1995, which starred Liv Tyler and Pruitt Taylor Vince, who also has a prominent role in Identity. Following that movie, Mangold found many different niches including romantic films (Kate & Leopold), “Dad Movies” (Cop Land, 3:10 to Yuma, Knight and Day, Ford v. Ferrari), superhero installments (The Wolverine, Logan) and award winners (Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line). Identity (which was a hit and had decent reviews) is sort of an interesting outlier as it’s the only time he’s made something that fits into the horror genre or is at least horror adjacent. Mangold’s next movie is the fifth entry in the Indiana Jones series: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is due out in late June.

• Double It with This 2003 Movie: Gothika

• Year 2003 Movies to Trailer Before It: Basic, Cold Creek Manor, In the Cut
Draft Day or Identity? Draft Day

• Mall Movie? It’s borderline with Identity firmly being a genre movie but I’ll say no just because of the cast-director combination.

• Only in 2003: John C. McGinley plays a meek character.

• Scene Stealer: Amanda Peet.

• I Miss (tie): Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet being in movies.

• I Don’t Miss: When it seemed like every other movie had a twist in the wake of The Sixth Sense.
• 2003 Crush: Amanda Peet.

• 2023 Crush: Amanda Peet. I’m now realizing that I might be in love with Amanda Peet.

• What I Thought in 2003: I enjoyed the movie until the twist reveals itself and then boy did I hate Identity.

• What I Think in 2023: Identity remains an odd movie for me. I really like the murder mystery at the hotel and wish that it was just played straight through. The twist is fine, but the problem is it’s far less interesting than what we’ve been led to believe is happening throughout the rest of the movie. I’m much more forgiving of Identity now that I know how it plays out. It’s a good, entertaining popcorn movie that I find somewhat frustrating.

1 comment:

  1. "I enjoyed the movie until the twist reveals itself and then boy did I hate Identity" is EXACTLY the way I feel about Identity.

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