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Review by MrBrown
4 stars out of 4
After two mediocre films in the past four years, Hong Kong action
maestro John Woo has finally, truly, arrived in the United States with his
third American feature, the dazzlingly kinetic and wonderfully complex
thriller Face/Off.
The complicated plotline by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary defies
any brief explanation. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta), after years
of obsessive pursuit, finally captures the murderer of his young son
Michael, Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), but not before Castor leaves one final
calling card--a large bomb waiting to detonate at an undisclosed Los Angeles
location. With Castor near death in a hospital, the only way to find out
the bomb's location is from Castor's imprisoned brother Pollux (Alessandro
Nivola), but the task is much easier said than done. To gain Pollux's
unconditional trust, Sean, through the use of a revolutionary surgery
technique, literally becomes Castor, adopting the criminal's face, voice,
and body. Needless to say, when the true Castor wakes up from his coma,
things get even more complicated. The newly free Castor (now played by
Travolta), wearing Sean's face, voice, body, and identity, shakes up the
FBI--not to mention the lives of Sean's wife Eve (Joan Allen, again
impressive) and rebellious daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain)--as the true
Sean (now played by Cage), incognito as Castor, sits in prison.
What ensues is a most intriguing acting exercise for Travolta and
Cage, who spend most of the movie playing the other's role, not to mention
the other's persona. It's a tricky, ambitious gimmick, and its success is
absolutely critical to the film--if it fails, so does the whole movie. But
in the capable hands of two consummate actors like Travolta and Cage, under
the direction of an underrated acting director like Woo, the switch succeeds
brilliantly. Each actor nails the other's mannerisms and speech rhythms so
perfectly, that it is never difficult to keep track of who's who; one really
does believe that each character is trapped in the other's body. Travolta
has the showier part, playing the over-the-top, oddball villain with gusto,
but it is Cage who really impresses, striking no false notes in the more
difficult, subtle, emotional role.
Woo's claim to fame is his delirious action scenes, and in Face/Off
moreso than any other of his American features, he is able to show off his
fresh, wildly imaginative approach to mayhem--elaborate choreography,
standoffs, flashy editing, etc. Woo fans dismayed by the watered-down
pyrotechnics in Hard Target and Broken Arrow will be relieved by the
spectacular action sequences in this film. One standout sequence, where
Olivia Newton-John's cover of "Over the Rainbow" plays while a defenseless
young boy watches numerous people getting shot to death, is the type of
hypnotic yet unsettling violence-as-poetry moments only Woo can pull off.
While Woo has made his name as a masterful action director, fans
know that the gunplay is just part of what makes his best HK action films so
great. They also feature rich characters and abnormally (for an action
film) strong emotion, and what makes Face/Off a Woo film through and through
are these two qualities. A number of the film's most memorable scenes
aren't elaborate sequences, but quieter, more emotional ones. Particularly
poignant are moments involving Sean as Castor--when Sean first sees his
reflection as Castor and angrily yells "Fuck you!" over and over again to
the doctors; when Sean fights off tears playacting as Castor during a prison
fight; and, most notably, when Sean/Castor meets the son Castor never knew
he had and loses himself in the moment, hugging the child tightly and
calling him "Michael." These scenes, whose success is in large part due to
Cage's terrific performance, recall the raw, intense emotion Woo brought to
1990's devastating Bullet in the Head and his masterpiece, 1989's The Killer.
If there's one thing about Face/Off does not feel completely,
totally John Woo, it is the incredibly sunny ending, which comes complete
with garish white lighting. But that aside, Face/Off is still a refreshing,
undiluted dose of Woo--an exhilarating, engrossing, intelligent action
thriller that puts all of this summer's other popcorn movies to shame.
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