Nostalgia Kinky

Arrow Home Video is releasing James Mangold’s all-star 2003 chiller Identity as a limited-edition 4K. Containing two versions of the film (both perfectly presented in 4K), new and archival extras, this nice collection will surely please fans of early 2000s horror and the film’s stars.
Order now directly from Arrow or from MVD.

I saw Identity opening weekend, spring of 2003. Before this rewatch on 4K, I had very little memory of the film. What I do recall is how this film compared to Mangold’s extraordinary earlier work and the marked disappointment I felt. Not so much in the film, which is a perfectly serviceable psychological thriller, but in Mangold himself.

Let me back up. Let’s all back up to 1995. Man, that was an okay year. Certainly better than 2003. The towers were still standing, and an extraordinary little movie called Heavy came out. Heavy was James Mangold’s first feature. Starred Liv Tyler, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Deborah Harry. It’s a great film, and Mangold was a guy to get excited about. His next film is a studio picture, but instead of reeking of a sell-out, Copland is to my eyes still the best film James Mangold has ever made.

One of my favorite things about James Mangold as a director in the wake of seeing Copland at theaters was the expert way he handled these incredible large ensemble casts of megastars and heavyweight actors, while still maintaining a completely independent feel. It was impressive, and Copland is one of the great American films of the nineties, both cuts.

Mangold’s most legendary moment, to me, as one of my nineties American directors, was his direction of the legend Angelina Jolie in his Copland follow-up, Girl, Interrupted. Jolie deservedly won an Oscar, and the film marked the conclusion of a perfect trio of early films. Since Girl, Interrupted, James Mangold has, of course, become a real Hollywood big-shot director of things like Wolverine and Indiana Jones. I stuck with him all the way through his silly Knight and Day before finally realizing the director I dug so much back in the nineties had just stopped making anything I was personally interested in.

Back to the early 2000s though. After Girl Interrupted, it kind of felt like Mangold could do no wrong. I even enjoyed his stab at big-budget Romatic comedies, Kate and Leopold. As a film, his first comedy was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, but yet again Mangold directs one of his stars, in this case eternally underrated Meg Ryan, to one of her most charming and charmed performances.

And that’s how we arrive at Identity, Mangold’s first horror film. By 2003, a genre-hopping James Mangold seems more interested in making a type of film rather than crafting another richly drawn-out story. Yes, each one of his first films falls into a genre, but with Identity, one gets the sense that for the first time Mangold is in service of one of said genres, rather than making it is own.

Full disclosure: in 2003 I thought Identity kind of blew. I recall sitting in a Lexington, KY theater with my buddy Dave, baffled by how much Mangold’s 5th feature just wasn’t working for me. Viewing the film all these years later, it is honestly not bad. By this time, Mangold is pro enough to deliver a great-looking studio picture, and he does just that. Frequent cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, gives this rain-soaked chiller a distinctly dark and successfully gloomy feel throughout. Plus, composer Alan Silvestri is always reliable for a creepy piano-based score like Identity.

Everything about Identity feels competent. That includes Mangold’s direction. It’s super competent. Much more so than Heavy or even Copland, but how much is lost to that competence? Identity is a very workmanlike production, and as such it is very well-made and watchable.
Identity is indeed a very competent film.

Ironically, Identity wasn’t even supposed to be a James Mangold film. His wife, producer Cathy Konrad, originally was going to give the Michael Cooney script to a more unknown filmmaker for a low-budget project. Mangold saw something in this script, though, and quickly expressed interest. For his troubles, Mangold got a hit, but again at what cost?

The low-budget wonder who’d created films like Heavy and Copland was gone after Identity. Since then, Mangold has directed one Hollywood studio-driven project after another. I really enjoyed his Johnny Cash biopic and his Western remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Haven’t seen anything since Knight and Day. Don’t much care too, although there is no question that Mangold’s varied career has thrived in extremely commercial and at times even critical ways in the more than two decades since Identity.

Like I said, I enjoyed Identity much more than I did during that opening weekend. Mostly out of nostalgia for much of the cast, I believe. John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Clea Duvall, John Hawkes. What a cool ensemble Identity has, although this is one of the only Mangold films without a true standout performance. Peet comes close but the script is too formulaic and pedestrian.

Arrow’s 4K looks and sounds incredible. This is a pretty perfect presentation. This limited set comes with a nice booklet, a slipcover, and a reversible sleeve. Extras-wise, we get two archival commentary tracks, one with Mangold and one with Cooney. I really like the 15-minute archival production featurette, mostly because we get to watch Amanda Peet running around charming everyone in the rain. Cusack seems suitably amused. There is also a reel of deleted scenes, promotional material, and two new cast and producer interviews. My hesitation for the film aside, Arrow has delivered a fine 4K set for Identity. Recommended.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2026-