Review of Faces in the Crowd (2011) by Michael Y — 29 Oct 2011

It may not be a groundbreaking thriller, and at times it is pretty cliche. But Milla Jovovich's new indie, Faces in the Crowd has enough of a unique edge to be good.

While walking home...alone...on a bridge...(Seriously. That's just asking for trouble) Anna is attacked by the rising terror of the serial killer named Tear-Jerk Jack, but she escapes with her life, but not without a bump on the noggin' and suffering from the condition, prosopagnosia, known as "face blindness" Anna can no longer recognize the faces of her friends or family. While she learns to adapt to her condition, her fears are not quite over, for the killer is still after her. To be frank, this movie will annoy most everyone. It has a very cliche structure, and the twist revealing the killer is pretty hard to watch. Where this movie does succeed is in the little details. I try to look for the little details in serial killer movies, and Faces in the Crowd has many. Milla Jovovich is incredible in her role, buying every emotion and reaction. Her performance makes the feeling of the movie all the more interesting. There are certain dramatic moments that focus on Anna's condition that are way better than the serial killer parts of the movie. And most people hate the change in tone with the little romance of Julian McMahon's police officer role, but I like it. It's sweet. I like the moments of romance and drama that surround Anna's condition, and it needed a thriller genre edge to make it better, but if only there was more dedication to the twists, story and thrills as there was with the unique drama.

For a small, indipendent movie, Faces in the Crowd doesn't look too bad. (But there are some greenscreen moments that kind of suck) Julien Magnat's directing is pretty average, once and a while looking good, but never looking REALLY good. It's an average style thriller with your basic cinematography and cliche executed thrills. If only this movie was directed by a more daring director. But this movie does have a unique style that makes it stand out. Since Anna has face blindness, we need to see people's faces change to get inside her head and know what she's going through. This is done by changing actors who have similar facial features through the entire movie. This is wonderfully done, and even more so because all their voices sound the same as well. This happens to the extent till it becomes frusterating, which is exactly what it should do. And like I said before, there are moments of drama that look well. And the music isn't that bad as well.

Overall, it's an average movie. But it's an "up and down" kind of average. The movie includes both bad cliches and style, but also includes wonderful originality and drama. Most people will not like this movie, but for me, its little details are good examples in the right direction for a truely great thriller.