Faces in the Crowd (2011)

Faces in the Crowd (2011)
Directed by: Julien Magnat
Written by: Agnès Caffin, Julien Magnat, Kelly Smith
Starring: David Atrakchi, Julian McMahon, Milla Jovovich

Faces in the Crowd (2011)

(15) Running time: 100 minutes

Director: Julien Magnat

Writers: Julien Magnat, Kelly Smith

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, David Atrakchi

Reviewed by: Matt Wavish, official HCF critic

See, personally I don’t believe we get enough serial killer films these days. I remember back to the 90’s when serial killer films were all the rage, and for some reason even though they all followed a similar formula, they were enjoyable. The lack of serial killer films these days surely should mean that when one comes along with  such a big star as Jovovich, and with a unique idea, it should be good right? Well, sadly Faces in the Crowd isn’t. It feels clichéd and the plot is very much been done to death. There is very little to get excited about here, so best I crack on and explain.

Jovovich plays Anna Marchant, a woman happy with her relationship with her loving boyfriend, happy in her job as a school teacher, and happy with her close friends. One night out with her friends she heads off home alone, and while walking believes she spots a man and a woman having sex. However, the cries of passion turn to cries of terror and the man slits the girls throat. Anna has just witnessed the serial killer ‘Tearjerk Jack’ kill another victim, he gets his nickname from the way he kills. First he slits the girls throat, then he violates the body before crying on them. Nice bloke! Anyway, Anna runs, the killer gives chase (obviously) and after catching her he slices away with his razorblade ferociously, but somehow Anna miraculously doesn’t even get marked! She gets away, eventually falling off a bridge and banging her head on the way down. After an interesting opening montage, and up until this point, the film has appeared very dark and quite inventive. All that is lost as Anna’s head smashes on some metal on the way down, the accident would, and should have killed her. But no, Anna survives (!!), don’t ask me how, but she does but the knock on her head has caused a condition known as ‘Face Blindness’. Know what that means? It means faces become unrecognisable, and low and behold, the killer has her ID and can happily come after her because she has no idea what he looks like!

The set up is a little too convenient, and I suppose desperate, to create an interesting serial killer film. If you really want to see a proper serial killer film where a condition causes a connection with the killer, then watch Blink. Faces in the Crowd, even though if offers up some nice ideas here and there, is a weak genre film. It is obvious where the film will lead, and it is obvious the struggles Anna will go through as the killer closes in. However, the condition does allow for a few moments of brilliance. A scene on an underground train, and Anna running from who she believes is the killer is well crafted, and really hits home how dangerous this condition can be (it is a real condition you know). Then there are the scenes where faces become distorted, and become different people, and apparently to achieve the effect, many of the characters, including the detective in charge of the investigation and who Anna has a relationship with, had multiple actors to play their parts. Even Anna does not recognise her own face, leading to a very disturbing scene of her looking in the mirror at a completely different person looking back at her. Even more unsettling are some of the scenes between Anna and her boyfriend in bed, as he too becomes someone else.

Sadly, it all becomes very predictable, and the film loses much of the classic whodunit set up thanks to a lazy plot, poor script and some questionable acting. Jovovich struggles as a lead actress, and even though I do normally rate her skills, here it’s as if she just couldn’t be bothered, and regrettably she is not convincing. Other characters irritate more than anything, like her Dr who teaches her how to deal with the disease “faces are the barcode of the human race” she says, the detective is weak, one moment he has a beard and the next, he decides to shave it off, which is a bizarre thing to do since Anna is told to focus on things like facial hair and birthmarks to remember faces.

The film is littered with silly decisions, and even dafter plot twists which you will see coming a mile off. Murder mystery’s are supposed to be riveting, exciting and edge of your seat, but this is bland and boring, and frustratingly predictable. The face blindness condition is a nice touch, but it is not strong enough to lead a film all by itself, however someone needs to tell the makers that as they seem to believe it will. A poor attempt at reinventing the serial killer genre, and a waste of otherwise great acting talent. This is a film to pass the time if you really have nothing else to do, it will probably please most serial killer fans, but it won’t excite them.

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