 The horror flick Identity is getting pretty good reviews -- for a horror flick. Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News doles out his reluctantly, writing that "my initial reaction was that I had been had," but then adding, "On reflection, I think it's a fascinating movie that, if you are able to make the leap it asks of you at about the three-quarter mark, will give you something to think and talk about for days. One thing is certain: It isn't predictable." Similarly, Roger Ebert comments in the Chicago Sun-Times: "I've seen a lot of movies that are intriguing for the first two acts and then go on autopilot with a formula ending. Identity is a rarity, a movie that seems to be on autopilot for the first two acts and then reveals that it was not, with a third act that causes us to rethink everything that has gone before. Ingenious, how simple and yet how devious the solution is." Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post also has some relatively nice things to say about the film: "Identity seems almost like the result of some late-night, alcohol-fueled film school debate. The issue: Can one take the least reputable, the tawdriest, sleaziest, most banal and pathetic genre -- the slasher film -- and transform it into something fresh, clever and confident, while sticking strictly to the obligations of the form. The answer fashioned by James Mangold seems to be: Yes, pretty much." |
