Review of Face/Off (1997) by Phil P — 20 Jul 2013

"You can't give back what you've taken from me.".

'Face/Off' is probably John Woo's most famous film in the west starring 'John Travolta' as cop 'Sean Archer' and 'Nicholas Cage' as psychotic terrorist 'Castor Troy', it is often hailed as one of the best films of the 90s and one of the all time great action movies. It follows 'Sean' in his pursuit of 'Castor' a man who killed his son 6 years earlier, to find out where 'Castor' had put a bomb. Through some sort of procedure that replaces Sean's face with Castor's face. The premise is odd and in the hands of another director may have become a complete mess, but after 'Hard Boiled' and the like 'Woo' proves his capabilities within the action genre. The story doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the plot department of action movies but it does what it has well. There are some pacing issues here and there with a very abrupt start and there's a slight lack of emotion but on the whole its really well worked out. The violence isn't overplayed and there is a touch of intelligence in the plot with cat and mouse game being played.

The acting is nothing short of excellent and this is essential for a film involving taking on each others personas. 'Cage' is a crazy nutcase with chauvinistic tendencies and this is something 'Travolta' has too show when he is playing 'Castor' and the same for 'Cage' as 'Sean'. It means that a wrong move and it's instantly noticeable. The rest to a good job but it's the 'Cage/Travolta' show and it will always go down as one of their best performances of all time - and will probably be viewed as one of Nicholas Cage's last great performances.

Along with 'Die Hard' 'Face/Off' goes down as one of the greatest action movie not just of the 90s but ever. There's a cleverness to it that is severely missing from films in the same genre now. There are plenty of action scenes and it finishes with a big bang with a brilliant boat chase. The acting is sublime and the slight pacing issues aside the story is good. Overall after many many years 'Face/Off still holds up very well, there is a small amount of cheapness to the look of it but that's minor 'Face/Off' is great and a very important part of John Woo's repertoire.