Face/Off

Face/Off is 90's action cheese at its purest.  Directed by John Woo, Nicolas Cage is an insane yet genius terrorist for hire and John Travolta is an FBI agent with a personal vendetta against him, and the only one crazy enough to catch him.  For most of the film, however, these rolls are switched.

The title, it turns out, is extremely literal.  Even after Sean Archer (Travolta) catches Castor Troy (Cage), the drama is not over as it seems there is still a bomb planted somewhere, ready to go off in a matter of days.  In order to find out where it is, Archer undergoes a radical procedure using new technology to remove his entire face and replace it with Troy's in a bid to gain his brother Pollux's (Alessandro Nivola) trust.  Thrown into a high security, somewhat cyber-punk prison with Pollux, Archer (now played by Cage) succeeds.  When it comes time for extraction, however, it turns out that having your face removed can contribute to waking you from a coma.  Troy (now played by Travolta) is back and has not only stolen Archer's face, but done away with everyone who knew the truth, including Dr. Hollis Miller (C. C. H. Pounder).  What follows is a game of cat and mouse as Archer is on the run from Troy and the law with the terrorist's old friends as his only allies.  Troy comfortably steps into the role of Archer, making himself at home in his house and with his wife (Joan Allen) and daughter (Dominique Swain).

Much of this unbelievable plot borders on the ridiculous and hinges on the fact that despite being in a coma with his face off, the world's most dangerous criminal is so unsecured that he wakes up, takes a hostage, forces someone to perform a medical procedure on him (during which he surely could have been euthenized?) and then kills everyone there without anyone else realizing what has happened.  And I haven't even mentioned Woo's signature over the top action scenes which include flaming boats doing Mythbuster worthy stunts.

The highlights of this film are Travolta and Cage, both of whom do an excellent job of becoming the other through pure acting.  Both play very different people at different points in the film and Cage either as Troy or as Archer as Troy exudes an insanity that is right up there with Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.  If it wasn't for these two giving an impressive example of acting prowess, this movie would have little to offer that can't be found in any action flick.

Apparently most everyone, critic and consumer alike, enjoyed this movie.  There were parts I liked, but overall I was sorely unimpressed.  Maybe I would have felt differently if I was watching it in '97 when it came out, but that's where I stand now.

*** (3/5 stars)