Identity

Just a heads-up, this will be a John Cusack day. The next two entries will be about Identity and Runaway Jury, both starring John Cusack. I didn't really plan on it, but I guess it's not a bad idea at all. Allow me to start with Identity.

Identity was a 2003 psycho-thriller film starring John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, and a whole more. It was directed by James Mangold, who is set to direct the 2013 movie The Wolverine, and written by Michael Cooney based on the novel of Agatha Christie's, "And Then There Was None." I am not familiar with the novel, but I want to thank Agatha Christie for inspiring the creation of this brilliant film.

Identity has always been one of my favorite films of all time. I think this is one of the smartest, most creative movies ever done in history. From its concept, storyline, cinematography, to castings, performances, and overall execution, this film had me. I re-watched a few minutes ago, and was again impressed.

It's about a man who suffers from multiple personality syndrome. As a traumatized child, he created different characters/personalities. The main problem of the movie revolved around his involvement in murder cases, killing 6 people. He's about to face execution, but a psychiatrist wanted to defend him, citing he was suffering from insanity; hence, he wasn't aware of committing those crimes. Thus started the core of the film, the 10 strangers stranded in a motel, being killed one after the other. In the end, only one would survive, and it better be the good one.

The development of the story, from the moment all of them came to the motel until the last survivor was revealed, was very, very exciting and thrilling (after all this is a thriller). I remember the first time I saw this film, my heart was racing, I couldn't keep still and I just wanted to know how it's going to end. That's still how I felt after re-watching it. That sense of vigor and excitement while watching the characters survive were still there. It was like watching the movie for the first time. I was at the edge of my seat, paused it at times when it was getting really intense, took a few moments and then pressed the play button again.

The whole cast was also strong. John Cusack was a great hero for this film. He was strong but also compassionate. Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes, Clea DuVall, John C. McGinley were all amazing. It was weird though seeing McGinley in this kind of role especially when he's played the role of Dr. Perry Cox on Scrubs for 9 seasons. But this had a strong cast to deliver and achieve the film's potential.

It gave me chills the first time, and it still gave me one today. I strongly believe that this is one of the best movies, not only in its genre, but all genres. It had excitement, drama, suspense, action, and the mixture of it all was just perfect. It was freaky, but it was the right kind of freaky. It had a lot of twists which kept it interesting, and kept me wanting to know what would happen next. From beginning til the end, this film did not disappoint at all. This would be one of those films, for me, that would never get old. I'd be happy to watch this movie over and over again.

The first time I saw the film, I knew it would be one of my favorites. I just loved the whole idea of it, especially the psychological part of it. Today, after re-watching it, I just proved that. It had the same effect on me as it did years ago. I was left in awe once again. There was still a joyful sensation in my body caused by how amazing the whole movie was. These reasons were exactly why I always encourage other people to watch it.

The next entry will be up in a few hours, hopefully. If you want to be updated with my latest entries, you can follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/sirfilmreviewer or e-mail me at mrfilmreviewer@yahoo.com.