Review: Face/Off (1997)

Face/Off

Rating

Director

John Woo

Screenplay

Mike Werb, Michael Colleary

Length

2h 18m

Starring

John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Sqain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch, CCH Pounder, Robert Wisdom, Margaret Cho

MPAA Rating

Review

While action films had been a cottage industry for Hollywood for several years, the 1990s saw an increase and proliferation of such films that is typified by movies like Face/Off.

A twisting, turning narrative about FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) and terrorist-for-hire Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) trying to one-up each other in an attempt to take down everything the other holds dear. The serpentine plot involves a theoretical scientific procedure that allows face and voice to be transplanted between people. This allows Travolta and Cage to switch roles for much of the film with Cage taking on the Archer role and dismantling his career and manipulating his wife and children while Travolta becomes Troy and uses his malignant infrastructure to take down his enemy with relations of both caught in the crossfire.

You’ll be forgiven for not following the plot, it’s convoluted and contrived but it’s certainly enjoyable. Travolta and Cage do a terrific job taking on each others’ ticks, mannerisms, and speech patterns, helping the audience somewhat in keeping track of the storyline whenever possible. Their performances are high points for each actor even if the film in which they exist isn’t always a winner.

Director John Woo made a name for himself in the action genre and this film highlights much of his skill at keeping things interesting but fails utterly in creating believability. It’s an outlandish concept that works only because of the performances and only partially as a result of the direction. The script by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary is bare bones, contrived to make the story make as much sense as possible while delivering engaging action sequences and explosive interactions between its stars.

For fans of action films, this is an inventive, original idea that gives the viewer the impression that they are witnessing something genuinely unique. The problem is that it struggles to justify its own existence outside of its action roots. There are no compelling resolutions or sensical solutions but what matters for most is whether the end justifies the means and ultimately it does.

Face/OfF is a symbol of 1990s action features, where the excitement is more important than the narrative. It features original concepts, engaging and exciting action sequences, and a full-bodied pair of actors enjoying themselves on the big screen. A classic in cinema it isn’t, but an enjoyable adventure it is. Some nips and tucks with the storyline might have made it more credible but for the cinemagoers of the period it only needed to be fun. So that’s what audiences got.