Face Off: Special Collectors Edition

Review by: Zak Santucci
ZakSantucci@TheCinemaSource.com

Do you remember when Face/Off came out? It was the only real taste of John Woo American audiences got. He just replaced Chow Yun Fat with John Travolta (also fat). Known for his gunplay, excess, and religious imagery I was always disappointed that Woo’s career went to the wayside after Mission Impossible II. Not that I really liked that movie, but I just miss watching Woo blow up new stuff.

Face/Off is the tale of terrorist Castor Troy (played with hyper-theatricality by Nicolas Cage) and his arch-nemesis, the law enforcement officer Sean Archer, played by Travolta. Archer catches Troy early in the film after a relentless manhunt and intense vendetta after Troy killed his son years earlier. Left in a coma, but survived by several henchman, Troy is unable to tell the good guys where a devastating dirty bomb was placed. Now the clock is ticking, so Archer undergoes face transplant surgery in order to infiltrate Troy’s gang and find out the location of the bomb. It’s bad enough that Archer has to see the man who killed his son everytime he looks in the mirror, but the stakes get raised when Troy awakens and puts on the face Archer left behind.

I actually never saw this movie except for the tv edit, so I was excited to see in all its violent, fast-paced glory. Considered a the second of a trilogy of over-the-top Nicolas Cage action films (including The Rock and Con Air this film by far takes itself most seriously. In fact, for at least the beginning, it takes itself far too seriously. Maybe I’m being picky, but Sean Archer (Travolta’s interpretation, not Cage’s) is just such a dick. I know he’s a troubled character, but the movie gets to the dramatic point of no return. Later, when the action steps up (and Nicolas Cage takes up the mantle of good guy) these feelings fall to the wayside so I can sit back and see the sparks and gunshots fill the screen. Either way, by the end of the film, I had completely forgotten this is what action movies were like in the mid-90’s. Trying to one-up the late 80’s blockbusters of John McTiernan, Shane Black, and guys like that, Face/Off tends to jump from comic book ridiculousness to soap opera sappiness. The more important question is how come I still find movies like this incredibly entertaining to watch.

As I implied earlier, Travolta is obnoxious as Archer while Cage is at least interesting. On the other hand, both actors have no problem making the insane, egotistical, and erratic Troy enjoyable to see on the screen. Surrounded with overtones of dichotomy, the foils of Gina Gershon (who is so freaking hot, seriously, why isn’t she in every movie?) and Joan Allen make the relationship dramas of the film believable. And the ...