Face/Off (1998, DVD)

"Ahh, The eternal struggle between good and evil, saints and sinners..... But you're still not having any fun!" That quote could go down as one of the best I have ever heard on film. At least in the realm of action movies, I feel it dwarfs the likes of "I'll be back", or "This is our Independence Day." And isn't that truly ironic that you can pick out such a great quote from a film built so solidly around action? Face/Off defied every expectation by having an action movie that included great actors, an original storyline, and great dialogue. It's rare to get any combination of these three attributes, let alone all three, and this film does not even come close to stopping there. What John Woo put together here was a masterpiece of a film, that won't become less attractive over time. Grossing near $250 million in world-wide box office sales, it made its mark as a successful film, and indeed established itself as one of the great action films in recent history.

Face/Off came out back in 1997, and was Directed by John Woo. Woo is well known for his action films, and has Directed such films as Mission Impossible 2, Broken Arrow, and Hard Target . If you have ever seen a Woo movie, then you know what you are in for even before you sit down. He is all about having a main character that will be believable as they proceed to save the day. And that is really what comprises any great action movie when you think about it, a hero must step up against insurmountable odds and save people. With Face/Off he was taking a whole new approach to the genre, by using two actors as both the good guys, and the bad guys of the film. Confused yet? If you have yet to see the film, then this is something of a quandary for you, because there are really only 2 main characters of the film.

John Travolta plays (or should I say starts out as) Sean Archer, who has been going through years of grief from the death of his son. The killer was Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage), and has been at large for the time since the shooting. Archer has devoted his life, and revolved his entire career, around bringing Troy to justice. In a great opening sequence, Archer does get his man, but it leaves Castor in a coma, and his brother in jail. With the discovery that the Troy's have hidden a bomb somewhere in the heart of Los Angeles, Archer is approached with a plan to find its location. He will switch faces with the criminal Troy, and approach Pollux Troy (Castor's brother) to acquire information. The intent is to then switch back to his own face, and resume a normal life with the case having been solved. But, something goes wrong, and Castor awakes from his coma to find his face missing. Seeing an opportunity, he takes on the face of Archer. With both characters, not only do they take on the faces, but mannerisms, voices, and everything else. They virtually become the other person. This is the point where Travolta is now the bad guy, and Cage becomes the good guy.

It may seem a little far fetched for a film story, but it is all broken down for us very nicely, and the audience falls into dismay at the thought of Archer losing his identity to this criminal. Woo does a great job of making sure that we aren't focusing on the aesthetics of the change-over, but rather the emotions that are attached to having your entire being stolen by another person. With the new Archer now running the FBI, there is no telling what havoc he could create, and he must be stopped by the only man who knows his true identity. This is where the acting abilities of both Travolta and Cage take over the big screen. Though they have taken the identities of their enemy, they still possess the same emotions, morals, and thoughts as they once did. This leads to not only some great character development in front of us, but a great deal of struggle as the characters search to find themselves.

When I state that I feel Face/Off is one of the great action movies, I must do it justice by elaborating exactly why I came to that conclusion. The chemistry between Cage and Travolta is just about as good as it gets. When they are sharing screen time in the film, it is simply electric. With the criminal spouting lines about good and evil, and the hero trying to regain some semblance of who he once was, we are treated to movie dialogue at its best. The script was very cleverly written, and we are treated to one great action sequence after another. The two that stand out in particular are the opening and the climax. But, from beginning to end we are treated with sequences that only a John Woo movie could really pull off. But not to be looked down upon is the supporting cast. With Gina Gershon and Joan Allen as the women of our two main characters, they take on their roles with just as much flair as the stars.

Face/Off is a movie that belongs in everyone's collection at home. It has everything that a movie needs to keep it interesting, and it goes the extra mile to make sure that we care about the characters at its core. Travolta is at his very best as first Sean Archer, and then Castor Troy in the film. Cage has made a career of being a versatile actor, and he proves it by also taking on the roles of both characters. Put together, these two actors have made a movie that I feel as not since been equaled in the action film genre. That being said, I highly recommend this movie to fans of any type of movie, because it does not put itself into a corner. Instead, it engrosses its audience from start to finish, and we realize that we are merely along for the ride.