Im Körper des Feindes

Face/Off is amazing because it mixes an outrageously cornball plot with some of the best acting in an action movie. How John Woo pulled it off is beyond me. His visual imagery is flamboyant and decorative, yet never fails to deliver the goods. There is always a flurry of images to grasp our attention. Granted, his typical trademarks are here, but never does the script suffer from the same problems as in his other works.

Nicolas Cage and John Travolta are phenomenal in their dual roles each. The rest of the cast isn't very deep and is more filler than anything else. The editing job feels underdone, particularly when the action sequences get to the "overcooked" staged. Still, how many speedboat chases or airplane crashes are you going to see in a slow-motion?

Overall, a summer action movie that delivers in acting, directing, and most other departments. 4 out of 5 stars.

FACE/OFF

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision)

Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS

This magnificent thriller represents director John Woo's triumphant return to the kind of hyperkinetic, emotionally charged film-making which made him such a hot property in the first place. Following the artistic bankruptcy of his first two Hollywood projects, this one is a marriage of high-octane movie-making and mind-twisting narrative complexities. It's also one of the few American action movies which manages to strike a balance between crowd-pleasing set-pieces and domestic interludes, and renders them equally important. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are perfectly matched as hero/villain (and vice versa!), whilst heavyweight theatre actress Joan Allen provides the narrative with much of its dramatic backbone in the role of Travolta's wife (the scene in which she is first confronted with her husband in Cage's body is almost identical to a similar scene in Terence Fisher's FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED [1969]).

Technically, the film is a blast, and Woo stages the action highlights with a visual grace and dexterity that is often breathtaking to behold. The climactic speedboat battle is probably the finest set-piece of Woo's career to date, and the script is overflowing with visual and thematic ironies that underscore the action highlights. In fact, the production has arguably more dramatic resonance than any other Hollywood blockbuster of the 1990s, but the dictates of American commercialism mean that Woo is only able to skate over the emotional surface of his characters and their moral dilemmas. The two main protagonists are much too cold and heartless to fully engage the audience's sympathies, and there's nothing here that matches the scorching human drama of, say, BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990). But for all that, FACE/OFF dares to go deeper than your average Hollywood action picture. It's clever, witty and thrilling, and it manages to accomplish the difficult task of feeding the brain whilst entertaining the eye.

I guess this is what people mean when they say "so bad, it's good". In reality, the phrase simply means "dumb but fun" because if the film is good, then it, inherently, can't be bad. I suppose the phrase could also refer to a bad film that one enjoys regardless of its sub-par nature, but even this is slightly flawed logic: art is subjective and if you think a film is good, then it is good (there are no 'guilty pleasures'). In any case, John Woo's 'Face/Off (1997)' is an expertly-made piece of 'B-movie' entertainment, one with a well-written script that may be silly but is only smartly so. It's as 'schlocky' as it is precise. That is to say that it's as dumb as they come but it's twice as fun. Every moment feels hand-crafted to be just as over-the-top as it needs to, sublimely toeing the line between self-serious and almost satirical, and the overall result is undeniably a blast. From the extended, smoky set-pieces to the balls-to-the-wall but emotive performances to Woo's ostentatious auteur signatures, the picture just flies by and keeps you smiling, essentially, every step of the way. Travolta as Cage and Cage as Travolta is as iconic and complex a cinematic pairing as there has ever been and it is pulled off impeccably. I'd even go so far as to say this is Cage's best performance, as he excels in both of his roles. Travolta is fine, but he stands out far more when he's in his villainous position. Still, the characters, quite remarkably, always come before the actors (the protagonist always seems like the protagonist, no matter who is playing him and vice versa). Indeed, there are actually some pretty intelligent ideas at play here and the way in which the narrative undercuts itself at certain points really is inspired. At the same time, though, the plot itself doesn't necessarily hold up to all that much scrutiny outside of its basic beats and requires a considerable amount of suspension of disbelief even within its own world. At the end of the day, I wouldn't have it any other way. This is a surprisingly good feature that takes the best elements of its disparate aspects and mashes them together rather successfully. It's entertaining. 7/10

From director John Woo comes this exhilarating action movie that takes a deadly cat-and-mouse game to the next level! A tortured federal agent, haunted by a painful tragedy and obsessed with catching the slick sociopathic terrorist who's eluded him for years and years, is forced to take the face of his mortal enemy in order to acquire vital information. The daring plan quickly goes awry when he loses his own identity in the process, and discovers his arch-enemy is cohabiting with his family. Film's enjoyment depends on the viewer: you'll either condemn the story as absurd and far-fetched, or you'll buy into it and go along for this supercharged, over-the-top action extravaganza. Travolta and Cage are both extraordinarily good, and with Woo at the helm you know that you'd better hang on for dear life! Occasionally silly, with a plot that tosses credibility out the window, but still a helluva lot of fun. ***

This one has a tough job of convincing the audience that the main characters, Travolta and Cage, could swap faces via plastic surgery and still be convincing as one another. It works! Woo has a certain style down-the long flowing robes, slow mo shootouts, orchestral hype in the background, furious shoot outs, explosions, etc. Essentially a more stylish Bruckheimer movie if ya think about it.

I have always liked the Bald guy and Gina Gershon here the most from the supporting cast, and enjoyed the way both the leads got to 'understand' the others' family, way of life, friends, etc. You have to like how Castor gets Travolta's girl to learn knife fighting, for example, or seeing the camaraderie of Cage's group.

Good shootouts and action, sometimes the conceits here are quite far flung, but you can live with that as an audience. I sure did, and so give this...

*** outta ****, it's quite good