Faces in the Crowd
Year: 2011
Director: Julien Magnat
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, Sarah Wayne Callies
Studio: Millennium Entertainment
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 102 Mins
Plot Synopsis:
Hot off the heels of her latest box office bomb "The Three Musketeers", Milla Jovovich has another film that recently made it's way to Blu-Ray. I'm talking about her latest film "Faces in the Crowd".
Jovovich stars as Anna, the only survivor of Tearjerk Jack's reign of terror. But when she is attacked by him and left for dead in the water, she begins to suffer from rare disease known as face blindness. The only face that she can see is a detective (Julian McMahon), whose obsessed with trying to capture this elusive killer. As Anna struggles to regain her normal life, she is frightened by the fact that Tearless Jack is stalking and haunting her. Can Anna find a way to elude him, before he strikes again.
Film Review:
I'm one of those film lovers that doesn't mind the serial killer subgenre, as there are some really good films that came out of this genre. But why do most of them feel like the Lifetime movie of the week. That was the feeling that I had, after the end of this film.
"Faces in the Crowd" is one of those films that doesn't provide any suspense until the end. Director/Writer Julien Magnat doesn't do much to make this film bearable to watch. First, the direction felt bland. One of the things that he doesn't do right, He doesn’t make the scenes interesting to keep your attention. This scenes had no energy to them. It felt you were something that air on basic cable TV. I don’t want to feel that, when watching a supposed theatrical film.
The other thing that made this direction bad, the way Magnat handles the acting aspects. The acting here was bad. He doesn't do a very good job getting his actors to make the material interesting. It felt like they were there to cash a paycheck. While we're also on the subject, Milla Jovovich performance was very dull and one note. She doesn't put any effort into her character. Instead, the character is uninteresting to follow as the main character. She needs to carefully read her scripts, before taking on these bad roles/
Magnat's screenplay was also horrendous. Is asking much for the beginning ten to fifteen minutes to focus on the backstory of the main character. That's what I was asking myself seven minutes into the film. If I'm asking that question, then your rushing the action and it doesn't get me acquainted with the main character. That's a recipe for disaster. Another problem with this screenplay, the action was too bland. Some of the scenes that were written felt like that they came out of a TV movie of the week. When you start feeling like this, then you lose your interested in whatever is going on. You become more distracted with the mistakes and feel of the film. There is no suspense whatsoever until the end.
The only good thing about this screenplay was the ending, but a good ending to a film doesn't make it a good film.
DVD Extras:
First on the disc is "Making Faces". The five minute featurette is a very generic featurette that give you information on the production of the film just interviews with the director and the main cast. Boring featurette that don’t provide much information.
Next of the disc is "Doppelganger". This five minute featurette goes into the how they used different actors for their facial features, since it's dealing with face blindness. The featurette also covers what movie magic they used in creating some of the film's scenes. Overall, not a bad featurette considering that the two other featurettes didn't provide information on the film.
After that is the featurette is "Cast of Characters" This final featurette goes into the cast of this film. Another boring featurette that does into the characters in the film. Overall, these featurettes would have worked better as one featurette.
The disc wraps up with the film's official trailer and preview for other Millennium Entertainment releases.
Final Summary:
"Faces in the Crowd" has a concept that could have worked better, if it had interesting characters and a story that didn’t come out a cop procedural show. Instead, this film feels like it should have been a TV movie of the week.
Review Rating: One Star
DVD Extras: One Star
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