Double/identité

This one has a tough job of convincing the audience that the main characters, Travolta and Cage, could swap faces via plastic surgery and still be convincing as one another. It works! Woo has a certain style down-the long flowing robes, slow mo shootouts, orchestral hype in the background, furious shoot outs, explosions, etc. Essentially a more stylish Bruckheimer movie if ya think about it.

I have always liked the Bald guy and Gina Gershon here the most from the supporting cast, and enjoyed the way both the leads got to 'understand' the others' family, way of life, friends, etc. You have to like how Castor gets Travolta's girl to learn knife fighting, for example, or seeing the camaraderie of Cage's group.

Good shootouts and action, sometimes the conceits here are quite far flung, but you can live with that as an audience. I sure did, and so give this...

*** outta ****, it's quite good

This is an epic action movie with everything and more: plane explosions, a jail break, boat chases, the latest scientific advances, and of course, the white doves flying off before a gun fight. It also has the premise of putting on someone else's face, which is an insane plot twist, which somehow turns out amazing. Also, if you don't already appreciate the gem to American cinema that Nicholas Cage is, prepare to be blown away.

Face/Off is amazing because it mixes an outrageously cornball plot with some of the best acting in an action movie. How John Woo pulled it off is beyond me. His visual imagery is flamboyant and decorative, yet never fails to deliver the goods. There is always a flurry of images to grasp our attention. Granted, his typical trademarks are here, but never does the script suffer from the same problems as in his other works.

Nicolas Cage and John Travolta are phenomenal in their dual roles each. The rest of the cast isn't very deep and is more filler than anything else. The editing job feels underdone, particularly when the action sequences get to the "overcooked" staged. Still, how many speedboat chases or airplane crashes are you going to see in a slow-motion?

Overall, a summer action movie that delivers in acting, directing, and most other departments. 4 out of 5 stars.

Face\off is the REAL masterpiece by John Woo (at least among his movies directed in the USA). It's spectacular, touching, tough and strongly directed.

Here there are a bunch of references to all his precedent movies, in particular to "The Killer" and "Hard Boiled" , with all their poetic in those long shoot-out which look like classical ballets, in that hyperbolic violence which actually is self ironic, in that kung-fu fights derived by Hong Kong film industry.

Eventually John Travolta and overall Nicholas Cage perfectly play the "literary" theme of doubles. 9\10 without second thoughts.

John Woo knows, if anybody, how to make good, stylish action. And that's exactly what this film is; good, cool, stylish action. The plot is great; fairly psychological and quite interesting. It has a fast(and remarkably even) pace, I don't think more than 30 minutes passes at any point in the movie without a giant action scene. All in all, I'd guess there are about four or five major shootouts, and two chase scenes which are each several minutes long(without getting repetitive, fortunately). The acting is excellent; every single major part is well-played. John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain... all give great, entirely believable performances. The best are definitely Travolta and Cage, though; fantastic, truly stellar performances. The characters are all well-written and credible, right down to the most minor one. The action is cool and very stylish, in every single action-scene. The theme of the film is great; of course, the story is completely unlikely, with the face-switching and all, but once you get past that, once you suspend disbelief, you'll most likely enjoy the film thoroughly. The script is excellent, plenty of action, drama, and thriller parts. Also, you gotta love the sharp contrast 3/4's into the movie, with the kid listening to sugary pop-music, while people are shooting intensely at each other. Great film. I recommend it to any fan of John Woo, Nicholas Cage, John Travolta and action films. 8/10