"This isn't just a thrill ride, it's a rocket..." -- Time
"Face/Off marks John Woo's return to critical acclaim." -- Asiaweek

Paramount, 1997, 138 min.

Winner of the 1997 MTV Movie Awards for "Best On-Screen Duo" and "Best Action Sequence"

Director: John Woo
Stars: John Travolta ("Sean Archer"), Nicolas Cage ("Castor Troy")
Producers: Terence Chang and Christopher Godsick
Writers: Michael Colleary and Mike Werb
Cinematographer: Oliver Webb
Editor: Chrsitian Wagner

Available on video (full frame or letterbox) from Paramount

To go to the official Face/Off site, click here

Check out a trailer for Face/Off (1.2 MB .mov file)
(Thanks to BULLET IN THE WEB for the clip)

"In order to trap him, he must become him."

FBI agent Sean Archer is determined to catch international terrorist Castor Troy, who killed Archer's young boy. After a blazing gunfight in an airplane hangar, Troy seems to have been killed and Archer can finally rest. However, Troy is not dead, and he's left a little "present" for Archer -- a large chemical bomb that will decimate Los Angeles unless Archer can find it first.

Going into a deep undercover operation, Archer uses experimental surgery to "become" Troy by having their faces swapped. Archer hopes to infiltrate a top-secret maximum security prison as Troy to make his brother give out the location of the bomb. He does, but not before Troy wakes up and takes Archer's face for himself. Now, Archer must escape from the world's toughest prison in time to save his family and co-workers from Troy's wrath.

While the premise is somewhat implausible, Woo's brisk direction keeps the story moving fast enough so you won't dwell on it too much. However, the story does tend to lag in the middle when Troy/Archer each assume their new roles. This might have been interesting, but for me, it really didn't work, especially with Troy. While Archer's wife (Joan Allen) is attractive, she's not so great-looking (plus she has kind of a stiff personality) as to justify why someone like Troy would go through all the time to romance her. Once the characters stop trying to imitate each other, the movie begins to flow better.

The action scenes in Face/Off are great, especially the one in a high-class loft where FBI agents and gangsters clash while a little boy is caught in the middle. However, the chase scenes (airplane/helicopter at the beginning and the boat chase at the end) are a little too "Hollywood" and seem kind of out of place in a Woo movie (they almost seem to be directed by someone else). Also, the ending is so sickeningly sweet, it makes me cringe. Overall, though, Face/Off was one of 1997's best movies and definetly Woo's best work since Hard-Boiled.

RATING: 8.5

Interesting trivia:

• The original script for Face/Off had the story in a futuristic setting, but due to cost considerations, it was put in a contemporary setting. John Woo also thought a sci-fi setting would take away from the characters. He says in City on Fire [© 1999 Verso Books] that "We changed [Face/Off] to make it more thought-provoking for the audience and more spiritual. Audiences are sick of empty movies. The studio was a little worried because they're not used to an action film with such strong drama, but once they saw some dailies they could see it would work. At last I was working with people who really knew how to appreciate each other."
The floating prison's name "Erehwon" is an anagram for "nowhere."
• The climatic boat chase was originally intended for Hard Target, but star Jean-Claude Van Damme wanted to use horses instead.
• Face/Off was the first US movie where John Woo had script approval, and it went on to become his biggest US hit, taking in $112 million at the box office.
• When Archer (as Troy) tells his wife about their first date, he remembers that she's a vegetarian. Earlier in the film, though, she didn't say anything about Troy (as Archer) cooking her lobster.
• After escaping from the prison, Archer (played by Nicolas Cage at that point) steals a beige Volvo. In Cage's previous movie, The Rock, his character says he drives a beige Volvo.
• Face/Off is heavily cut in some European countries, particularly in the bits where butterfly knives are used.
• Nicolas Cage's performance as Castor Troy was originally supposed to be more cold-hearted, but Cage and Woo wanted to express more through the character.
• Woo did not have as much trouble with the ratings board as he did on his two previous US films, only having to tone down the opening assassination scene.
• Face/Off had the highest preview test scores (where audiences rate upcoming movies) of any movie Paramount had ever produced.

Thanks to King of Gunfire for these tidbits:

• Chow Yun-Fat was rumored to be in the movie during the early stages of filming; however, due to contractual obligations, he could not appear in the film and his role was taken up by Asian comedian Margaret Cho.
• John Woo wanted a dark and sinister ending for Face/Off rather than the typical Hollywood-style ending. Woo wanted to leave audiences
  wondering if that was Sean Acher that returned home at the end or... Castor Troy?
• Actor Nicolas Cage (who played Castor Troy) is a big fan of Chow Yun-Fat. John Woo originally asked Cage to decide on the make-up for the
  beginning of the film (where Troy is going to kill Archer). Cage decided to don a moustache,similar to the famous assassination scene in The Killer.

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