So here we are nearly at the end of July and the year is flying so I figured its about time to get another post on here and I've decided to go for another action movie and this one is Face/Off starring the dynamic duo of John Travolta and Nicholas Cage.
So let's load up those guns and give this mother a look.....
And yes PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD HERE!!
STORY
Right so starting with my obligatory look at the film's story which begins with an assassination attempt being made on FBI agent, Sean Archer (Travolta) by a freelance terrorist Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) which Archer survives however his young son Michael was killed instead as a result. Six years later Archer carries on with his personal vendetta to try and bring down Castor and he eventually manages to ambush and capture Castor at a small aiport in Los Angeles along with his brother Pollux Troy (Alessandro Nivola). Castor however reveals a plan to detonate a bomb somewhere in LA during his fight with Archer but is knocked into a coma before he can say anymore. Archer then confirms that the threat of bomb is real but he is unable to get Pollux to talk about where it is. However Archer's partner Tito (Robert Wisdom) tells Archer that there is another option open to them which would involve Archer having to undergo facial surgery to have his face removed and replace with Castor's who is being kept alive while in a coma. Archer eventually agrees to undergo the surgery and he takes on the appearance of Castor (with Cage now playing Archer) with the idea of going into the prison where Pollux is kept where he must try and learn the location of the bomb. Archer goes into the prisoner as a prisoner and he manages to persuade Pollux to tell him where the bomb is.
In the meantime however Castor awakens from his coma to discover his face is missing and he calls his gang and they force the doctor who supervised the surgery, Dr Walsh (Colm Feore) to put Archer's face on Castor. Castor (now played by Travolta) kills Walsh and Archer's partner Tito and everyone linked with the undercover operation and pays a visit to Archer in prison where he goads him by saying he intends to take over his job and personal life. Castor then has Pollux released from prison by posing a deal that Pollux tells them where the bomb is located giving Castor the idea to get credit for finding and deactivating the bomb which he does. Castor then starts to move in on Archer's personal life as he get's close with Archer's wife Eve (Joan Allen) and daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain). Archer while still in prison manages to stage a prison riot and escapes from the prison along with the help of fellow inmate Dubov (Chris Bauer) who is killed during the riot. Archer then makes it back to LA where he heads to Castor's headquarters and meets Sasha (Gina Gershon) who is the sister of Castor's drug kingpin, Dietrich (Nick Cassavettes). Archer while there meets Sasha's and Castor's son, Adam who bears a resemblance to Archer's son Michael.
However Castor soon learns of Archer's escape and raids his headquarters with FBI agents in a bloody fight with fatal casualties on both sides, including Dietrich and Pollux however Archer, Sasha and Adam manage to escape. Castor distraught at Pollux's death is soon confronted by Archer's boss Victor Lazarro (Harve Presnell) who blames him for the raid turning bloody but Castor then quietly admits to Lazarro in his office that he is in fact Castor Troy and then kills Lazarro and makes it look like a heart attack. Archer then meets with Eve and eventually manages to convince her that he is Archer by telling Eve his real blood type and Castor's. Eve then takes a blood sample from Castor during the night and tests it revealing it to be as Archer said. Eve says that however as Castor is now the acting director of the department that he will be very tough to get to but with Lazarro's funeral being planned, Castor will be in attendance and Archer could take Castor there. And from here it leads into the film's climax with literally all guns blazing.....
THOUGHTS
As an action film Face/Off works pretty well and its an entertaining action movie which was saw its director John Woo makes a successful transition from his Hong Kong action flicks to America (although this was his second Hollywood action film with Blue Arrow being his first also starring Travolta). The concept for the film also makes for something slightly different and unique in the action genre with both Travolta and Cage playing their opposite roles for the better part of the film. Woo here also employs his trademark use of slow motion and visually stylised action scenes, guys flying through the air while firing their guns and also themes of honour among good guys.
PERFORMANCES
As for the performances things are pretty good here with both the leads giving enjoyably hammy performances. Starting with John Travolta who relishes the double role of Archer and Castor and he plays both of them pretty well as his Archer is pretty sombre and serious whereas his Castor is playful and psychotic all at once. Travolta naturally has some highlights in the film such as the first scene where he is revealed as Castor (wearing Archer's face of course, yep its confusing!) to Archer in prison. And in the scene Castor smiles looking at Archer saying "Wooo-wee you good lookin!" and follows it up by saying "Now I've got to go. I've got a government job to abuse and a lonely wife to fuck!". Another good scene is when Castor does his one good deed in the whole film when he prevents Jamie from being raped and afterward tells her "Dress up like Halloween and ghouls will try and get into your pants!". And then Castor asks Jamie "While we're on the subject, do you have protection?" and Jamie asks "What like condoms?" and Castor then expertly pulls out a switchblade and says to her "Protection. Next time, let Carl take his pants down, slip this in his thigh, twist it. So the wound won't close..". Then there is the moment where Archer having deactivated the bomb get's alot of credit and applause from the FBI agents back at the office and smiles thriving off the attention he says to them "Everybody I want to thank you for enduring all these years that I was an insufferable bore!". And another one of Travolta's best moments comes when as Castor he suddenly for the first time (and only time) personality wise becomes like Archer when he hears that Archer has escaped but is presumed dead and Castor says "Where is his body?". And one of the agents says "It hasn't been recovered yet" and Castor suddenly explodes "IT HASN'T BEEN RECOVERED YET????!!! Get the LAPD on this!". Another good scene is when Castor confesses to Lazarro that he really is Castor Troy and he says to him "I've got a confession to make and you won't like it" and he grabs Lazarro and says in his ear "I AM Castor Troy!" and kills him. Then there is the scene which is one of the best visual moments in the film where Castor raids his own headquarters to kill Archer and the two of them stand either side of a double glass windowed pillar. And Castor says "I don't know what I hate wearing more... your face or your body! Let's face it we both like it the other way yes? How about we trade back" and Archer says "You can't give back what you've taken from me!" and Castor says "Oh well plan B. Let's just kill each other!" and they both point their guns at each other from either side of the glass. And lastly there is the scene where Castor at Lazarro's funeral is in a stand off between Archer and Sasha and Castor grins saying "Weee! What a predicament!".
Then there is the other lead Nicholas Cage who's performance is a mixture of seriousness and deceny as Archer and gleeful madness as Castor. Cage also has his moments in the film such as the start where dressed as a priest activates the bomb at the LA convention centre. And he afterward joins the choir spotting a pretty choir girl and he goes up to her and says "I never really enjoyed the Messiah, in fact, I think it's fucking boring. But your voice makes even hack like Handel seem like a genius!" and proceeds to grab her ass and groan in orgasmic delight (yes VERY cheesy!). Then there is the scene where Castor arrives at the private airport and he pays off guards protecting Pollux and he tells them "Oh and avoid dowtown on the 18th as things may get a bit smoggy!". Another good moment is when Castor and Archer face off each other at the start off the film in the airport hanger and Archer has Castor at gun point. And Castor feigns being scared as he says "Please don't shoot me, man. I'm scared, Sean!" and then "Well, I think you better pull the trigger, because I don't give a FUCK!" and he discreetly pulls a knife out from behind his back and signs (rather annoyingly I have to admit!) "I'm ready, Ready for the big ride, BABY!". And then we have the scene where Castor wakens from his coma with his face wrapped in bandages he removes to see his face missing and yells out in hysteria. And after calling his gang they bring Dr Walsh over to him and Walsh asks "What do you want?" and we see the reflection of Castor's bloody visage of the skin removed from his face he says "Take one goddamn guess!". Then once Archer undergoes the facial surgery there is probably the unintentionally hilarious scene where he is sent to prison and whilst in line waiting for dinner he spots Pollux but he is attacked by another prisoner Dubov. And Archer starts to try and take on Castor's persona by suddenly grinning madly at Pollux and then beating Dubov and yelling "I'm Castor Troy!!" and making "Wooo!!!" noises but we clearly see his pain and anguish as well. Then there is the scene where Archer finally speaks to Pollux and he get's him to admit the location of the bomb and Archer says "Thank you" and Pollux says "For what?" and Archer says "You are so fucking pathetic!".
Another amusing scene later on in the film is when Archer in prison figures out the only the way to have his magentic boots removed is to be put in the chair where they administer electric shocks. So Archer attacks a guard and grabs a cigarette and he is taken away by the guards for electrocution and he yells out " I NEED A LIGHT!! I NEED A LIGHT!! HAS ANYONE GOT A LIGHT?!". Then there is the scene where Archer having made it back to LA he steals a car and calls the FBI office and speaks to Castor who answers saying "This is Sean Archer speaking" and Archer says "Well if you're Sean Archer, I guess that makes me Castor Troy!". Then there is the scene where Archer goes to Castor's headquarters and Dietrich gives Castor some drugs and under the influence he tells them his plan to get Castor (well Archer really, yep confusing!). And one of the gang asks "When we get him, what next?" and Archer says "Tiny, tiny surgery" and then "Yes I want to take his face off". And Dietrich asks again "I'm sorry you want to take his face off?" and Archer says "Yes. I want to take his face... off. Eyes, nose, skin, teeth. It's coming off!". Another good moment from Cage is when Archer sneaks back into his house and he tries to convince Eve that he is himself and he says to her "The last time I saw you was in this room, we had a fight when I said I had to go away again I spent the night in Mike's old bed, the assignment was to enter a federal prison as Castor Troy, just fucking insane! A special ops surgeon gave me Caster's FACE and somehow Castor came out of his coma and killed everybody who knew about the mission not before transforming into me!". And last of all there is the moment where (PLOT SPOILER!!!) Archer FINALLY kills Castor by shooting him through the chest with a harpoon gun and Archer screams out "DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".
As for the other cast members Joan Allen provides a very good performance as Archer's long suffering wife Eve. Allen also has some good moments in the film such as the scene Eve and Castor visit Michael's grave and she lays down some towns on the grave and breaks down in tears "Happy Birthday, Mikey. He took our baby, Sean. He took our little boy!" with Castor consoling her feeling a bit of remorse. And I won't do too many highlight scenes to save some typing out but one last scene I will mention is when Eve comments on her daughter Jamie not showing up for Lazarro's funeral "She stole $50 from my purse this morning and just took off. She wouldn't even come to our son's grave so why should she give a damn about your boss's funeral!".
Gina Gershon is also excellent as Sasha Hessler, one of Castor's lovers who also has a son, Adam and is mixed up their drug business along with her brother and drug kingpin Dietrich. And Gina has some good scenes also such as where Sasha introduces her son to Archer (as still Castor) and she says to Archer that guns are his, and Archer says "He's a good looking boy" and Gina says "Yeah, he's yours too". And as Sasha tells Adam to go over to Archer he gives the boy a warm hug as the boy resembles his own dead son Michael and Archer starts to sob saying "Michael...Michael!" and Sasha says "Cas, stop it! You're scaring him!". And during the FBI raid on the headquarters there is the moment where Sasha runs carrying Adam and one of the agents stops her and she kicks him in the nuts and says "I never want to see you do that!". And lastly there is the scene where Sasha turns up at the funeral and points her gun at Castor (as Archer) and she asks Archer (as Castor) "Are you OK, baby?" and Castor says "Sasha, baby, I'm Castor. THAT'S Archer" and Sasha says "And I'm bored. Put the fucking gun down!".
And the last couple I will mention are Nick Cassavettes as Dietrich who is also good in his role and he also get's some of the film's best lines. And as a couple of examples there is the scene where Archer arrives at Castor's headquarters and Dietrich welcomes him and says "What's the matter? You look like you've just fucked your mother!". And then there is the moment where Dietrich gives a glass containing solvent drugs and as Archer in a drug induced haze says of Castor "I want to take his face off!" and leaves to go to the bathroom. Dietrich says "His face....off!" making a gesture with his hand and then says "No more drugs for that man!".
And last of all is Dominique Swain as Archer's daughter Jamie, a teenage upstart and she is also quite good in the part. Dominique also has some good moments such as the scene where Jamie is almost raped by her boyfriend and is saved by Castor. And afterwards as she sits in the house Jamie says "That's typical Dad. Somebody tries to rape me and I'm to blame!". And lastly there is the moment where Castor (as Archer) grabs Jamie holding her at gunpoint and she manages to take out the switchblade Castor handed her earlier and she stabs him in his thigh and Castor limps off. And Jamie hysterically sobbing hugs Eve saying "Will someone tell me what planet I'm on???!!".
DIRECTOR AND THE MUSIC
Now we get to the director paragraph and John Woo does a fine job here and effortlessly handles the film's action scenes as it is his forte and he manages to make the scenes almost balletic in his use of slow-motion. Woo's pacing of the film at times however is a bit inconsistent as he tends to drags things out but nevertheless he manages to keep the pace going fairly well at the right rate. And then there is the music score by John Powell which is OK but it isn't anything too great to write home about and its sounds a bit like all his other scores and it lacks any kind of originality.
FLAWS
Ahh now for the flaws....yep Face/Off isn't quite perfect and for starters it has to be said that as I previously mentioned that the film's pacing is pretty inconsistent at times and there even some sections of the film which are a bit boring. This is especially the case in the film's long and I mean LONG drawn out climax where after what seems an age Archer finally kills off Castor. And the film almost has the feel of Lord of the Rings - Return of the King as it has appears to have a few moments where you think "OK now THAT should be the ending!" but it still keeps on going! Not to mention there is also the scene where Archer escapes from the prison and he jumps off the roof and we see four separate shots of him fall toward the water before he actually finally goes in!!! It really is overkill.
Then there are some plot inconsistencies and one that really sticks out is the moment where Dr Walsh tells Archer after he has undergone his facial surgery he has a small micro audio sensor taped to his chest to make him sound like Castor. And Walsh says to him "Now be careful as something as simple as a sharp sneeze could dislodge it". OK now if that is the case then how come it never got dislodged when Archer was in prison getting the crap beaten out of him?! I mean if I sharp sneeze could dislodge it then surely being kicked and punched in the face and stomach will certainly do it and it would instantly blow Archer's cover!
Another thing that bugged me was Archer's insistence on stroking his hand gently down his wife and daughter's face and (of course his late son's as seen at the start of the film) as if it was some sort of special gesture. But I just think that this is actually pretty creepy! And after a while it just becomes grating to watch Archer do it over and over and surely you would think his family would eventually find it tiresome as well and would say "OK! Stop doing that! You are creeping me out!". But nah this is Hollywood and its seen as a sign of affection.
The film also has some ridiculous moments in its action scenes such as where Archer during his escape somehow miraculously manages to dodge the prison guards bullets by diving into the corner of the room. Also he conveniently finds a bottle of sulphuric acid nearby and having grabbed the gun from one of the guards he expertly throws it into the air and shoots at directly at two guards which explodes in their faces. Now that is either some kickass sharpshooting or just plain bloody ridiculous and improbable!
Not to mention in this sequence as Archer finally reaches the prison's security systems he suddenly knows how to deactivate it and get outside but surely to God he would have NO real knowledge of how to actually do that given that its a prison that he knows nothing about and doesn't even know where its located! But again, yep its a Hollywood film that defies all sense of logic and convention.
Also its funny how the film is filled with a ridiculous amount of explosions such as during the scene when during the opening chase scene with Archer trying to take down Castor shoots out one of the engines with his gun and it causes an explosion in the engine. Now I don't know if such a small bullet could make such an impact on a big plane engine but it does seems a bit improbable to me. And later there is the final speedboat chase scene where one of Archer and Castor's speedboats (can't remember which!) does a ramp jump through a boat causing the boat to suddenly explode into flames which frankly IS ridiculous! Unless of course the boat itself had some flammable containers or items onboard there is no logical reason for the boat to suddenly explode like that. So again convention is thrown out of the window.
And lastly I have to say its bizarre how Eve and Jamie don't really twig sooner how different Castor (as with Archer's face) is in terms of personality than Archer is, although Eve twigs it alot sooner but Jamie never does until the funeral! And also even Archer's fellow FBI agents must surely twig that something is up in Castor's (again as Archer, yep it is getting confusing) drastic contrast of personality in comparison to Archer's drab and dour demeanour. But yet again being just a movie this is never really questioned at any time and everyone just excepts it for what it is.
SUM UP
So that's it for my look at Face/Off which is an entertaining although at times overlong and awkwardly paced action film which features two enjoyable and over the top performances from its two lead actors. It also easily qualifies as John Woo's best American film but he has of course arguably made better films back in his native land in China but for all the film's faults its still a good one.
And with that I shall bid yee goodbye for now and be back again soon.
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