Face/Off

Yes, make no mistake: this is a very entertaining, very stylish film, done by Hong Kong action guru John Wood and featuring two fine actors. However, its almost too much to watch in one viewing. It just wears you out! If this film was cut from 140 minutes to 120 it would have been much easier to watch.

Woo's action scenes includes tons of explosions and breaking glass. This director just can't get enough of those explosion scenes. Some of those segments are excellent but many of them go on too long, particularly at the end of the film where it went on what seemed like forever.

The best part of the film are the two lead actors and the interchangeable characters they play. John Travolta and Nicholas Cage are extremely entertaining in here. If they kept the story more about those guys and their switched identities and didn't have eight thousand explosions, this could have a super movie.

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.

This would not have worked had it takes itself seriously.

This film has some of the cagiest Nic Cage moments ever. And I love crazy Cage.

I guess this is what people mean when they say "so bad, it's good". In reality, the phrase simply means "dumb but fun" because if the film is good, then it, inherently, can't be bad. I suppose the phrase could also refer to a bad film that one enjoys regardless of its sub-par nature, but even this is slightly flawed logic: art is subjective and if you think a film is good, then it is good (there are no 'guilty pleasures'). In any case, John Woo's 'Face/Off (1997)' is an expertly-made piece of 'B-movie' entertainment, one with a well-written script that may be silly but is only smartly so. It's as 'schlocky' as it is precise. That is to say that it's as dumb as they come but it's twice as fun. Every moment feels hand-crafted to be just as over-the-top as it needs to, sublimely toeing the line between self-serious and almost satirical, and the overall result is undeniably a blast. From the extended, smoky set-pieces to the balls-to-the-wall but emotive performances to Woo's ostentatious auteur signatures, the picture just flies by and keeps you smiling, essentially, every step of the way. Travolta as Cage and Cage as Travolta is as iconic and complex a cinematic pairing as there has ever been and it is pulled off impeccably. I'd even go so far as to say this is Cage's best performance, as he excels in both of his roles. Travolta is fine, but he stands out far more when he's in his villainous position. Still, the characters, quite remarkably, always come before the actors (the protagonist always seems like the protagonist, no matter who is playing him and vice versa). Indeed, there are actually some pretty intelligent ideas at play here and the way in which the narrative undercuts itself at certain points really is inspired. At the same time, though, the plot itself doesn't necessarily hold up to all that much scrutiny outside of its basic beats and requires a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief even within its own world. At the end of the day, I wouldn't have it any other way. This is a surprisingly good feature that takes the best elements of its disparate aspects and mashes them together rather successfully. It's entertaining. 7/10

FACE/OFF

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS

This magnificent thriller represents director John Woo's triumphant return to the kind of hyperkinetic, emotionally charged film-making which made him such a hot property in the first place. Following the artistic bankruptcy of his first two Hollywood projects, this one is a marriage of high-octane movie-making and mind-twisting narrative complexities. It's also one of the few American action movies which manages to strike a balance between crowd-pleasing set-pieces and domestic interludes, and renders them equally important. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are perfectly matched as hero/villain (and vice versa!), whilst heavyweight theatre actress Joan Allen provides the narrative with much of its dramatic backbone in the role of Travolta's wife (the scene in which she is first confronted with her husband in Cage's body is almost identical to a similar scene in Terence Fisher's FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED [1969]).

Technically, the film is a blast, and Woo stages the action highlights with a visual grace and dexterity that is often breathtaking to behold. The climactic speedboat battle is probably the finest set-piece of Woo's career to date, and the script is overflowing with visual and thematic ironies that underscore the action highlights. In fact, the production has arguably more dramatic resonance than any other Hollywood blockbuster of the 1990s, but the dictates of American commercialism mean that Woo is only able to skate over the emotional surface of his characters and their moral dilemmas. The two main protagonists are much too cold and heartless to fully engage the audience's sympathies, and there's nothing here that matches the scorching human drama of, say, BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990). But for all that, FACE/OFF dares to go deeper than your average Hollywood action picture. It's clever, witty and thrilling, and it manages to accomplish the difficult task of feeding the brain whilst entertaining the eye.