Identity and Confidence
Two movies which came out last week use the art of surprise to resolve their conflicts, one in a whodunit mystery, the other involving lots of con jobs. Both turn out to be way too predictable ahead of the time, but only one movie comes out ahead.

Identity stars John Cusack, part of a group of ten who are stranded at a motel when the roads leading out of the town are flooded. All of them aren't too content to stay the night there: the mother of a family has just been hit by a car; a young couple were just married; a policeman is transporting a convict. But soon, one by one, they are being killed, leaving the guests to wonder who among them it could be. In their place are keychains counting down the victims until the last one is left. Soon enough, the blame could be placed on everyone there. While they figure it out, they soon realize all of them have a connection. They all have the same birthday, May 10, and their names match one of the states' names. What the heck does all this mean? Meanwhile, the actions here are intercut with an informal trial setting where a lawyer is trying to get an execution stayed for a man convicted of murder. Inevitably, these two plotlines will connect leading to a who and a why.

This is a really smart, suspense thriller. Lots of twists and turns occur, leaving a number of clues to figure out a la The Sixth Sense. But unlike The Sixth Sense, where without the surprise at the end, the movie was awfully boring in my opinion, Identity holds its own as being a thriller without thrills. Most of the entertainment occurs in your head as you try to figure out what happening on screen instead of reacting to what's on screen. Humor breaks the tension at just the right places and seemingly important plot points become red herrings as new clues are discovered. Sure, the elements that make up Identity seem a bit aged (the motel, the rain, the characters), but it all works out to its benefit in the end, creating a shocker of a surprise, unless you were paying attention like I was, and could see it coming from a mile away. Still, seeing that surprise on-screen still worked for me, as does this entire movie. 3.5 stars

Confidence bills itself as a smart con movie. Being smart is one thing, but being too smart gets annoying, which ultimately dooms this film. Ed Burns and his team cons a man out of $150,000, money that was on its way to the King, played by Dustin Hoffman. When a man from his team gets killed for mouthing about it, Burns chooses to do a job for the King instead of just returning the money. The King gives him the job of getting money from Morgan Price (Robert Forster), a banker. Burns hires Rachel Weisz to round out the team, a pickpocket looking to do something more. But with the King, some LAPD cops, and a Customs agent looking at his every action, Burns tries to pull off the ultimate con to make this work out for him and his team.

This series of twists and turns works to a lesser extent than it did in Identity, mainly because there's so much to keep track of that it's easy to get confused in the entire thing. It takes way too long to get to its ending and along the way, the meticulous planning of the con job is documented and shown, and looking at the right places, it's obvious who's playing whom once you get to the ending. The movie's strong suit turns to its acting. Hoffman as the King was an interesting choice, but he plays the role extremely well, adding an air of mystery to his character. Burns is competent as the leader of the group as is Weisz as the lady who seems to be Burns' equal. James Foley's direction gives his film an old-time look, full of closeups, odd angles, and vibrant colors meant to give the action on screen a certain amount of attention. And you'll need it to make sense of how the movie got to its smart, if implausible, ending. 2.5 stars