Faces in the Crowd (V)
| release date | October 25 2011 |
| studio | Millennium Entertainment/First Look Pictures |
| director | Julien Magnat |
| writer | Julien Magnat |
| starring | Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, Michael Shanks, David Atrakchi, Sarah Wayne Callies, Marianne Faithful |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
4 Comments
An decent, suspenseful whodunit with exceptional performances especially from the solid lead actress Mila Jovanovich who takes a break from fighting zombies for once and takes a stab at this psychological thriller. The film takes the route of films like Blink, Dressed To Kill, Copycat, Eyes Of Laura Mars and Hideaway but a little less brutal and more pedestrian but still kept me intrigued and on the edge of my seat figuring out who is the killer. It has minor jump scares here and there but the premise probably looked more terrifying on paper than it really ends up being on screen but it has it’s moments but just didn’t take risks the kind that lifetime movies of the week don’t take but it’s definitely better looking and polished. The film as a whole was just too easy of a watch and never was it downright gripping enough to be memorable but just good enough to feel good about picking to watch it and I appreciate the classic approach but these days you need to up the game to make a lasting impression and this did not. Overall it’s a likable thriller with a pretty happy ending that got the job done but didn’t really breakaway to cause much of a stir with it’s audience but Mila made a great effort and is always mesmerizing to watch and this is one of her better performances. Worth a watch. 6.4 out of 10
Ugh, good premise but executed horribly. The most annoying part was that they couldn’t decide if they should place other actors in the same character as to confuse you, or just to blur the face… They did both. I just couldn’t get into this one, I had to pause it several times because I was bored with it. There was a lot more that bothered me about this but I do not feel like going into all of it. 4/ 10 solely on premise. Head my warning, this is one to skip!
Really gotta disagree with the BD review.
First off, this is straight-to-DVD fare. In this genre, the production value is actually quite high, lots of competent b-list actors, and excellent direction. The concept is fantastic, but the plot fails to take advantage of it and is reduced to the cartoonish: “It’s me, shoot him!”; “No! I’m ME, shoot HIM!” repeatedly for 15 minutes in the climax. A shoe-horned and unbelievable romantic interest in the last act will also elicit some groans. I normally find Milla Jovovich irritating, bland and unbelievable, yet I thought her performance was actually above her usual par.
All in all, it’s definitely BETTER than what I was expecting for a straight-to-DVD release, though it is incomplete in some areas and just downright silly and trope-laden near the finale.
2.5/5 stars.
Terrible movie, boring, almost fell asleep many times, I do not even remember anything about this movie, except that it sucked, big time
In my opinion, this movie isn’t all that bad. It kept me interested until the end and kept me trying to figure out who the killer was. Milla Jovovich delivers a great performance as well, I was truly impressed with her portrayal of a woman suffering this horrible condition. The idea of a being stalked by a killer and having no clue who he might really be, of not being able to recognize any of my family and friends and people I know…well, it sends chills down my spine. I couldn’t imagine having to go through that. It would surely drive me insane. All in all, I feel this movie is worth a watch.
When I watched this psycho thriller I thought the premise behind face blindness was a very scary thing to have to go through and only get “used to”, like getting adjusted to being blind, but not even close to a comparison. Watching Mila J. reintroduce herself in the mirror and how she saw a different person even in her friends faces was very disturbing to me. The whole lets catch a serial killer was all too familiar and the victim falling in love with the detective protecting her was so damned cliche. There was not even a twist to be had, for even the predicting out the actual killer was way too easy. Do not waste your time with this unless you are a huge fan of Mila Jovochich, but since she is not running around in a patented leather outfit, it will disappoint, because she has no depth of expression her face whatsoever to even feel sorry for her character.
I thought the acting was great and I liked how they kept changing the actors for the same role in the lead females head. it was pretty crazy
“Faces in the Crowd” is 100% a feminist film and 40% a good one. To sum things up, it’s a horror thriller about visual impairment and mistaken identity; with some cheap romance and emotional drama woven into the story for what I assume to be extra measure. I call it feminist because the protagonist – and most of her friends, meaning most of the characters – is a woman, and the men of the story are simply not to be trusted. In a story like this; there is a mystery, there is a killer, there are heroes, there are villains, and alas there must be a few slayings and ultimately something that passes for a solution to the problem. This is the kind of movie that I could imagine Dario Argento devoting his precious time to making…in the 1980′s.
It’s not that the movie feels dated; it’s that it just isn’t very good, in any way. A screenplay is a screenplay, and this one has a fairly convoluted and unbelievable one. I appreciate what it’s trying to do, and if a better director and screenwriter had been hired to expand upon the set-up, it might have been pretty good. Among other things, I wanted it to be good because I found the premise intriguing, but as soon as I set my eyes on a few of the “talents” involved, I was discouraged, and rightfully so. The film was released direct-to-video, and indeed there are worse movies plaguing the multiplex worldwide; but I can’t think of a more suitable treatment for a movie of this standard and quality.
A young woman named Anna (Milla Jovovich) starts developing and showing symptoms of Prosopagnosia after a chance encounter with a local serial killer known to nosy newspaper readers and contributors as “Tearjerker Jack”. In case you don’t know this already, Prosopagnosia means the inability to recognize every face that you see, even those belonging to people who are genuinely close to you. Now, Anna must live with tragedy; being rendered unable to identify her attacker or anyone else, for the matter. Sure, she’s on the road to recovery throughout the picture (she sees a few psychiatrists; stays in touch with her friends of the Facebook generation); but every day it’s the same old routine. She loses sight of just about everything in life; and almost in an entirely literal sense.
Oddball policemen work on the case while Anna resumes her daily activities. For a while, they find nothing; but after some successful therapeutic sessions intended to cure Anna of this “disease” that she has contracted from violent tragedy, it becomes clear that there might just be a resolution to this murder mystery. But then again, you probably knew that from the beginning; and yet while the movie is uninvolving and the script even more severely so, you’re likely to keep watching the damn thing until the credits start rolling. No, that doesn’t imply that it’s good, or engaging; but rather that it’s a mystery that at least has the decency to employ enough clichÃ