Faces in the Crowd (2011)

Milla Jovovich takes a break from tangling with the undead to star in the new to home video thriller Faces in the Crowd, which tells the tale of a woman suffering from a rare condition after witnessing a murder.

In Faces in the Crowd, Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Three Musketeers) stars as Anna, a schoolteacher who witnesses a serial killer offing yet another victim. In her attempts to flee the killer's wrath, Anna takes a nasty fall, and wakes up with a lifechanging condition.

Anna awakens in the hospital suffering from Prosopagnosia ("face-blindness"), which seriously impairs her ability to recognize anyone. While she can still see other objects and bodily features, she may look at someone's face 10 times and it will look different to her each time.

This condition obviously prevents Anna from helping out with the case against the killer, much to the dismay of her contact on the case, Detective Kerrest (Julian McMahon of Nip/Tuck). As you might suspect, though, the detective's frustration towards Anna soon turns to affection. Kerrest works closely with Anna as the killer, who learns of her condition, begins to play mind games.

Jovovich and McMahon are both very good in this film playing against type. Jovovich, currently working on her fifth Resident Evil film, has become known as one of cinema's top female action stars, kicking zombie butt and taking names, yet here she plays a very fragile character, and she pulls it off beautifully. McMahon is best known as plastic surgeon Dr. Christian Troy of Nip/Tuck, one of television's most egotistical and self-centred characters, but he seems equally adept at playing the no-frills, heroic detective. Both show that they are anything but one-trick ponies.

Faces in the Crowd features a really unique premise and great acting from the two leads. The film does drag a little near the end, but it really does outperform most other films in the serial killer/victim on the run genre. It also really makes you think about the gifts most people taken for granted, like the ability to distinguish one face from another.

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5