Face/Off A movie review by Monika Huebner Copyright 1998 Monika Huebner
Director: John Woo Cast: John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Gina Gershon, Joan Allen
To get straight to the point: Face/Off is based on a brillant idea for an intelligent action movie, but unfortunately turns out to be a third rate Hollywood flick. The beginning seems promising enough: two men who are as different as can be exchange their lives. One does so willingly, the other has no choice.
John Travolta is FBI agent Sean Archer whose son is killed by a bullet meant for him. Archer is a bundle of virtues: a good husband, loving father and loyal law enforcement officer. Whereas Travolta played a not-so-holy angel in MICHAEL in this movie he is the guardian of law, order and justice. Until he finds himself stuck with the face of gangster Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) and suddenly has to play the opposite part. He does that quite well. Another plus for Travolta: he doesn't dance.
Nicolas Cage is gangster Castor Troy who falls into a coma after being shot and wakes up to realize that his face is gone. So of course he takes the doctors hostage and forces them to give him Archer's face. To destroy the evidence of what he has done Troy burns down the clinic so nobody knows about Archer's true identity anymore. The change of identity is perfect. From now on Cage 'is' Travolta and Travolta 'is' Cage.
Unfortunately this is also the point when the script becomes increasingly obscure. The writers seemed to think that an audience who buys the face transplant will believe virtually anything. Maybe it would have been more believable if the protagonists had been more physically alike. But the fact that a wife has to do a blood test to verify her husband's identity is a bit too much. She might have noticed that her husband has gone from model citizen to despicable creep. This seems even stranger considering that Travolta isn't quite as good as Cage when it comes to acting like the other one. But these are only minor deficiencies of the script.
What weighs more heavily is the fact that the last half hour of the movie consists only of action movie cliches. There are wild shoot-outs, but the climax is a speed boat chase that - finally - brings on the obligatory explosions. They show us three in a row, each one more impressive than the one before. After all the pyrotechnists have to work for their money . Unfortunately John Woo had no more original idea for a finale, when we already had begun to doubt a boat this size would explode so easily while watching SPEED 2. But this ending wouldn't have been too bad, if they had just removed the dead and wounded and been done with that.
Well, things can always get worse. The movie ends with a big family reunion that seems to be a new Hollywood trend in action movies. FACE/OFF meets CON AIR. Too bad, Mr. Woo. That didn't work.
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