Identity (2003)

Agatha Christie would recognize the bones of this one: strangers stuck at a desert motel during a flood, the phones dead, people vanishing one at a time. Identity is that old mystery, soaked through and dumped in Nevada, and it’s soggy fun. James Mangold keeps it tight at 90 minutes, and the cast is stacked: John Cusack as a tired ex-cop, Ray Liotta as a twitchy officer hauling a prisoner, Amanda Peet as a woman just trying to get out of town, John Hawkes as the jumpy manager. Meanwhile, a second story plays out at a late-night hearing, and that’s the part people still argue about. The big reveal either makes the movie or wrecks it, and both camps have a point: it’s clever, and it also shrinks the earlier scares. It made $90.3 million worldwide on a reported $28M. A 6.6 because the ride is tense and the trick will either thrill you or make you throw a pillow. $3,018 says you check into a roadside motel someday and read the room number twice before you go inside.

What works: The cast is excellent, John Cusack anchors it, and the motel setup is tight and spooky.

What doesn’t: The final reveal is clever but cheapens a lot of what came before, and cutting away to the hearing stalls the momentum.

Who it’s for: Fans of locked-room mysteries who like arguing about a twist long after the credits roll.