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Face/Off

Face/Off

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best action flick ever.
Review: This blasts Die Hard right out of a building and sends it flying down 33 stories. It jump kicks The Matrix and breaks its back on a granite wall. It grabs Cliffhanger by the throat and throws it onto a pile of jagged rocks. Yes, this movie indeed kicks major buttocks. It's a story about an F.B.I. agent and a terrorist who change identities and get a first hand glimpse at how the other lives his own lifestyle. This used to be my favorite flick for about two years until I just watched it so much that I just played it out completely. But it still remains my favorite action film of all time. Nicolas Cage steals each scene and John Travolta is fun to watch playing the bad guy again. This movie is very quotable ("I could eat a peach for hours") and offers some of the most stylish and intense action scenes offered on the silver screen. One of the big summer hits of 1997, there won't be another shoot-em-up as great as this one to come along in a while.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Thriller and melodrama
Review: John Woo's action spectacular is one of those things that has an equal mixture of the excellent and the terrible. It revolves around cop Sean Archer (Travolta) switching faces and identities with the man who killed his son, Castor Troy (Cage), whilst his enemy is stuck in a coma. After Troy miraculously awakes from his coma (he is described as brain dead) he swaps faces with Archer and kills all of the people that know that the real Archer is stuck in prison trying to find out about a huge bomb explosion that Troy has planned. If this sounds complicated, that's because it is, but the director manages to kepp it going effortlessly. There's also a little delving into the psyches of the characters, with Archer beginning to enjoy the high-jetting lifestyle of Troy whilst still being sickened by looking at the face of a killer in the killer. The movie also doesn't shy away from the awkward subject of Troy's sexual feelings for Archer's daughter Jamie as sweet-talks her in her father's body.

The cast is well-picked, with Travolta especially enjoying his role as the bad guy on the inside. Cage is good as always and Joan Allen manages to steal just about every scene that she's in. The acting in itself is an unusual slant on the thriller and it should be applauded by the fact that melodrama is often placed alongside the big set pieces and slow motion gunshots.

However, 'Face/Off' is a little overlong (the subplot involving with Gina Gershon could have been cut entirely, save the humour that she brings to the proceedings) and begins to get ahead of itself near the finale. In particular the religious imagery used in a 'Reservoir Dogs'-style shootout will make most people cringe as doves fly across the screen whilst the two male protaganists face off. This innocence juxtaposed alongside blood and guts isn't handled well, with 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' being played for one shoot-out. This movie is most fun when we get to see Travolta acting the bad guy, worming his way into his families affections with his bad boy attitude. To sum up, 'Face/Off' is a thoroughly superiour thriller until about half an hour before the end where it tails off.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: switched identies
Review: John Travolta and Nicolas Cage star in "Face/Off". FBI Special Agent John Archer (Travolta) has been chasing super terrorist Caster Troy (Cage). Eventually Cage is arrested but comatose, which is problimatic because there is a huge bomb somewhere in L.A. After exhasing all conventional methods, Archer decides to assume Troy's identity through an experimental surgury that allows one to wear the others face. Things go way wrong when Troy wakes up and takes over Archer's life. Ok, the plot is unbelievablely silly. But Travolta and Cage are very interesting and you can never take your eyes off them, even if it's hard to tell who's who. The supporting cat is amazing as well. Gina Gershon and Joan Allen are excellent as the woman in the men's life. They are both tough, resourseful, and smart (though both are these qualitys but in defferent ways). The action is first rate. John Woo was an expert in hyperactive actioneers in Hong Kong, now he finally gets to apply his style to a major American movie. The violence is grusome, but not to a slasher movie mentality. It's just an all around great movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Face/Off- Action Galore!
Review: Face/Off, the best American film by John Woo in my opinion is amazing. It has one of a kind action sequences which are simply stunning and great, especially for being released in summer of 1997. A success at the box-office and I'd say the best action flick of the decade next to Die Hard. John Woo is a very talented action director and he uses his talents here immensely and that's why the film works.
As for the premise, well it's just about proposterous, the idea of futuristic sugery is somewhat clever though. The story of switching identites through futuristic surgery is original I must say and is a bit catchy enough. John Travota plays Agent Sean Archer, early in the film after his son is killed by his archrival, Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) a deadly terrorist he's out to catch him. He soon does in an intense hanger shootout. Unfortunately for Archer a bomb is somewhere in Los Angeles and in order to obtain information he must become Troy, because Troy's brother Pollux has been caught and is a prison facility.
They soon switch identities and the intensity begins. Soon the film becomes more suspenseful when Cage's character wake's up from his coma to learn his face has been switched, he soon assumes the identity of Travolta, and the real Archer learns that the psychopath is living with his family. From here we get more breath-taking and innovative action sequences including more shootouts and a great boat chase finale. Explosions, gunfire and fistfights round out the fun! John Woo crafts a great action film, better than Broken Arrow and Hard Target, I'd say. And also probably better than M:I-2, even though it had its moments. And definetly better than Woo's latest Paycheck, which was mainly good for the action sequences especially the bike chase. All in all Woo's work is amazing and I hope to see more and hopefully better work from him in the future.
Face/Off is rated R for Intense Sequences of Strong Violence and for Strong Language. The violence includes intense shootouts which can be deafening, which are usually bloody, as well as some fistfights and a few other bloody images. The language is fairly strong and consistent, but not overly used and not to the point where I could call it obscene.
The DVD unfortunately has one main feature, which is the Theatrical Trailer, which is a good trailer I should point out.
Overall a great movie and worth owning on Video or DVD, preferably DVD for the excellent sound and picture.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Travolta/Nicolas Cage are The Same!
Review: Two men know each other more than they know anybody else. What's the connection? One's been tracking the other down for years. One's been running away from the other. Sean Archer (John Travolta) loses his son to the sick Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) and only wants to catch the killer. After a huge battle on a runway with people rolling out of planes, Troy has finally been caught. A secret experiment enabled Archer to remove Troy's face and put it on his. He would become him to find out where Troy's hidden bomb is at. "Peaches, I could eat a peach for hours." From high Travolta voice to low Cage voice. It was memorable. Wait, Troy came back to life without a face and took Archer's, so he became him. Does this make any sense? The two live each other's lives and start to like it. Joan Allen plays Archer's wife and Gina Gershon plays Troy's girlfriend. What casting. There are funny action scenes with people falling through windows and Archer as Troy jumping off a huge prison roof. John Woo the director, always throws in the traditional scream of death in his movies and it's always funny. The movie is original. Who would seriously cut off a person's face to become him. I recall "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" where Leatherface ate people's faces. Hopefully you don't remember that. The grostesque images reminded me of cold spaghetti. Anyway, the movie is fast and touching at times. Good performances.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Special Edition????? (regioun 4 reveiw)
Review: Dont take my low vote on this movie the wrong way. I'm not voting down the movie, the movie is a great movie, a definit 4 star movie for me. But I rate the DVD down for the Australian (regioun 4) version which has "Special Edition" written on it! And I want to know what exactly makes it a special edition? It comes a with a trailer ... whoopie... it has somthing called "Action Overload" which i thought might have been a featurette? but it was just a 60 second montage of the action in the film! Basicly it was another trailer! and of coarse "Cast biographies" which wernt planned out very good, they dont even give you a list of movies Travolta or Cage have been in! It just mentions a small bit of details and somthing about an awarard?

If your looking specificly for this movie on DVD? Then i rate it a 4! Also, if you havent seen it? Then i recomend you at least rent it, and decide if you'd be intrested in buying it? But if your not intrested in bonus material, then its worth it!

But if you where like me? and was hopeing that "Special Edition" ment more then 2 trailers (which i dont consider bonus features, they should be standard. and pretty much are), a terribly thought out biography, and Wide Screen (if you consider that any kind of bonus?) then i dont recomend you pay alot for it, to me this was just the way a normal DVD is usualy represented. What is "Special" about this "Special Edition?"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One to watch time and time again
Review: This is a very clever movie. What if you looked in the mirror in the morning and saw your worst enemy staring back at you? John Woo's clever action film takes a sci-fi concept and uses it to tell a very personal story. Face Off is about an FBI agent, played partly by John Travolta (convincing in a serious action role) and partly by Nicholas Cage (again very effective in a tough part). The effects and technology used to achieve the body swap are impressive, but they are really incidental .

What makes the movie, and where Woo and the cast show their skill are the huge action set pieces juxtaposed with moments of intimacy. The death of Archer's son at the hands of Troy is particularly well handled, being moving without being maudlin. Care is taken over every shot and the editing makes this even more effective. It's well worth buying becasuse you can watch it again and again and pick up more and more each time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Greatest Travolta/Cage Action movie ever made.
Review: John Woo's Special effects filled Violent Masterpiece "FACE/OFF" is the film that will defanly rock your world, Travolta and Cage star in this film as twisty characters. Travolta is FBI agent Sean Archer, his son has been assassinated by Hitman Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Years later, Troy is Captured by Archer, after a highspeed chase and getting put outcold by a Ballastic Jet Engine. Only Archer's life is more trouble, only to discover Troy has placed a Bomb somewhere in San Franscoe. (In a Intense scene done by Special effects) The two under Surgery supervison, swap identity's, Archer is Troy, Troy is Archer. Archer is sent to A Futuristic like Prison. And Troy undergoes his plans as Archer. When Archer Escapes, the two battle in the Ultimate violent showdown. The best film about this Futuristic Identity thriller, don't judge it, Just enjoy it. The film should also be called: "Identity Showdown"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Action as Art
Review: While the plot of this movie is relatively interesting, this movie is really about two things:
First, the lead actors get to do the characters they do best as fully as they know how. Cage is his typical, neurotic, repressed, and emotionally conflicted self. Travolta hams it up in the outlandish, larger-than-life way that he often does. Despite what could be seen as overacting by both the leads, the almost absurd disparity between them is one of central things that makes this movie work.

Second, this movie has the most beautiful action sequences of any action movie I have ever seen (excluding epic-type movies, i.e. LOTR, Star Wars, Braveheart, etc.). This is a film that knows it's an action movie and revels in it. The cinematography in the fight scenes simultaneously displays the nature of the characters and the intensity of the battle between them. There are so many moments when you will just delight at the visual art that is every action sequence in this film. Needless to say, this movie has all the gunfights, fistfights, chases, and large explosions that one would expect in a serious action film.
If you like action movies, this is the first one I would recommend.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good action flick
Review: This John Woo action movie doesn't really bring any great surprises to the table, but it is a highly entertaing, and well done film. You have to excuse the believability of it first of all, but after that you can sit back and enjoy it. Cage gives a good performance. Alessandro Nivola, who plays Pollux Troy, gives a great performance. And Travolta gives a five star, truly remarkable performance. He mimics Cage perfectly. Travolta truly shows how great of an actor he is here. This is one action movie I do recommend.


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