FACE/OFF
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Nicholas Cage and John Travolta have
to exchange personalities as well as bodies while
trying to kill each other. Two tired plot elements
show surprising new life in a thriller that
combines the hunt for a brilliant sociopath with a
body switch. The result is a thriller with at
least a little intelligence behind it. Director
John Woo could improve the film by toning down the
action scenes, and he does not always show the best
of taste in his stylistic choices. But for once
his film has more going for it than action.
Certainly FACE/OFF is a step in the right direction
for Woo. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), 7 (0 to 10)
When I grew up noodle soup was a lot of broth and only a little bit of noodles. Then on the market from East Asia came ramen which was mostly noodles. The marketers of this product acknowledged that many people bought noodle soup for the noodles so they made that most of the soup. When I grew up an action film was something like THE GUNS OF NAVARONE. It had a good story and some action sequences. Unhappily much of the audience really was watching the film for the action sequences and the plot just bound them together, but at least it was there for those who wanted it. The Hong Kong action film formula delivers action the way ramen delivers noodles. It gives you more action than plot. Part of the formula is to turn the drama to melodrama. Melodrama allows for more dramatic moments in a shorter space of time, leaving more time to devote to action sequences. Then the action sequences go off like a strings of firecrackers on Chinese New Year. Turning the story to melodrama and increasing the pace of the fireworks destroys much of the credibility of a film, but it gives the audience what it wants. That is the Hong Kong action film formula and one of its leading proponents is John Woo. But Woo has been lured to Hollywood and he has had to compromise his style a bit. He has toned down the melodrama making for a longer story to tell. He has cut down the proportion of action scenes while lengthening the film. FACE/OFF is a long film at 138 minutes, it spends less time with action sequences than his earlier films, but he uses the extra time to tell a more dramatically satisfying story with a more engaging premise.
In action films we have had more than our share of films of law agents stalking psychopathic killers. And a few seasons back we also had in a short time a lot of films with people switching bodies and having to live as the other person. Combining the two ideas does not sound like a promising idea, but it makes for a much more interesting piece dramatically than most of Woo's films. Castor and Pollux Troy (played respectively by Nicholas Cage and Alessandro Nivola) are brother sociopaths who have little in common with their namesakes, the Dioscuri who accompanied Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. Castor is a super- extrovert (and obnoxious) criminal genius. Six years earlier he nearly killed FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) and did kill Archer's young son. The ruthless and narcissistic killer has been pitted against stiff and introverted FBI agent for several years, and finally Archer manages to kill Castor Troy. However, the government knows that Castor and Pollux have set a bomb to destroy Los Angeles and Pollux refuses to talk. Then Archer finds out that Castor is still alive, albeit comatose, and that a new process can transform Archer to look like Castor. It is suggested that Archer become Castor and perhaps trick information from Pollux Troy. Of course Castor wakes from his coma, finds out what has happened and forces the doctors to transform him to look like Archer. The logic (or lack of logic) in this scene is one of the low-points of the film. But to fool people Castor and Archer each has to take on the other's mannerisms. The introvert must force himself to be an extrovert, the extrovert ... well that would be telling. Each must get involved with the family or friends of the other, and gets a better understanding of the enemy. Loyalties become confused. Many things are happening at different levels in this film and Woo manages to keep things together.
John Woo's anything goes Hong Kong style just does not really work all the time. There is a somewhat questionable sequence in with a child's home is shot up and a child is very nearly killed all done to the tune of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The scene may well have been inspired by the brilliant "Danny Boy" sequence in MILLER'S CROSSING, but here it is too easy to construe it as making light of child endangerment. It indicates that Woo, like some of his characters, is not always in full control of his talents. And in this scene, like most of Woo's action scenes, the violence is turned up to a degree far beyond any realism and all subtlety is lost. When Woo is finished with a set for one of his action scenes it is pretty well shredded. Other places he has more control such as well-choreographed sequence in which FBI agents try to stop a plane from taking off. The opening sequence is a nightmarish flashback showing a good deal of atmosphere.
Woo goes neither for drama nor his usual melodrama, but something somewhere in between. He has good actors in Travolta and Cage and more than his other films he needs them as each goes through layers of the others personality. Nancy Allen plays Archer's wife, for once an intelligently drawn character. Allen is a two-time Oscar nominee for her roles in THE CRUCIBLE and as Pat Nixon in NIXON. In a role that other filmmakers might have minimized, she holds her own. Gina Gershon also plays well in a sympathetic role as a close friend of Castor.
John Woo is showing signs of maturing as a filmmaker. While he still is a fan a large scale destruction scenes, he has shown he can make a film with a little more to it. I rate this film a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
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