Last week we saw A Mighty Wind and Holes. Both were excellent movies I highly recommend even at full ticket price. Identity, however, is another matter. See this as a matinée or wait for it to hit the dollar theaters or video. You can wait, trust me.
Roger Ebert gave it three stars, though I don't know why. It was a dark and stormy night. In Nevada. I lived in the desert for a few years and don't remember torrential downpours that lasted hours and hours, so that struck the first weird note for me. The characters are also pretty much clichés. Some reviewers have hinted that it has elements of the supernatural. Here's a real hint: it doesn't. It's not scary either.
The premise that it all hangs on is pure bullshit: I won't spoil it by stating why but anyone that's ever spent any time working or studying psych will spot the bullshit pretty quickly (unless they're purveyors or "victims" of this particular version of psychocrap). We figured out what it was all about long before the "revelation." It was an okay escape for a Friday afternoon -- I love John Cusack in just about anything -- but just as I was settling in to a good old serial-killer-on-the-loose movie -- standard fare, but well acted -- it switches gears into illusion land. The premise, once it's unveiled, makes all the characters meaningless and there is no point to going back to the motel scenes. Who cares who dies or lives at this point? End of mystery.
Ah well. Next week we'll go see X-Men 2 (or whatever it's called) and then, May 15th, probably at the first available showing, Matrix 2 or whatever it's called.
Posted by Lee at April 25, 2003 08:44 PM | TrackBack