First of all, please see this movie with no expectations. Don’t try to figure everything out, don’t try to guess what’s coming next. Impossible, right?

“Identity” is the story of about ten people who are stranded at a motel in a rainstorm. Yes, there’s no way out - the roads are flooded, the phones don’t work. And, one by one, they’re being killed. The motel looks a lot like the famous Bates Motel from “Psycho”. Silly, right? Well, hold on, it gets better and then it gets worse.

Ray Liotta and John Cusack head a fine cast looking to survive the bloodshed. They play a cop transporting a prisoner and a limo driver who used to be a cop. Because of this, they end up as the central figures in trying to put an end to the killings. The other key figure is a lady named Paris, played by Amanda Peet. She’s a hooker with an attitude. There is some pretty funny byplay between her and the motel clerk played by John Hawkes. The other people are forgettable. Whoops, did I give anything away here? Relax, just remember what I said upfront, don’t try to figure anything out and you’ll be okay.

This movie opens with a series of mishaps that bring most of these people together at the motel and it’ll grab your attention. People get run over by cars in this movie and it is pretty graphic. That seems to be a new Hollywood trend by the way – I guess showing people being stabbed and shot has gotten too routine, so now it’s people being run over by trains and cars. Hey, it worked here – my heart was racing.

I can’t say much more about the story because it all takes a big twist at the end - a twist that more than explains everything. Which is normally good, except in this case they explain everything with four people still left and that took the tension away. If you don’t know what I mean by that, you will.

I just wish one thing about “Identity” – that it was about three minutes shorter, because the last twist is silly and unnecessary. Not at all unrealistic, just silly and unnecessary. There- is that cryptic enough for you? Sorry, this is a mystery story with too many ways I could ruin it. I give it a “7.0” and I’ll leave before those last minutes play out if I see it again.