Quick Review: Face/Off (1997)

 I want to take you back to a time long ago.  In 1997, someone said 'Let's make a Movie about people swapping faces...and also one of them is clearly insane.'

They got John Woo to direct the ballet of insanity and we got...

A madman- Nic Cage- plants a bomb in Los Angeles, but he's very discreet about it.

Okay, that's a lie.

He dresses up like a Priest, fondles a (hopefully 18) girl and acts like a madman in public.

An FBI Agent- John Travolta- has not been the same since his son was killed (off-screen, due to '90s censors) by Cage.

He's spent the last few years trying to catch him...at the expense of everyone else.

It's a shame that he couldn't find, for instance, a Religion to help him find balance in his life and Thetan Level.

They get into a big Action Scene that begins as a Chase, turns into a shoot-out and ultimately ends one-on-one.

Wait- did we skip right to the end?!?

Well, no.

Cage has that bomb set to go off in, wait for it, 265 hours and they need to find it.

Since only his Brother will talk, they do the title thing and switch faces.

If you put enough science words in there, this all makes sense!

Things take a turn when Cage wakes up without his face.

He does the swap the other way and takes over Travolta's life.

Somehow, nobody sees through this since they, I guess, appreciate the more relaxed and erratic guy who's clearly someone else.

Time to escape from Prison.

The Film builds to the 2nd face-off (see what I did there?!?!?) between the pair as Cage('s body) is a wanted Criminal and Travolta('s body) is a respected FBI Agent.

To do this, he defused his own bomb, thus rendering that Plot Point...mostly useless.

You know who will win, of course.

That said, seeing how it all plays out is worth the price of purchase (digital or physical).
The End.

A fun, delightfully-insane Film.  It attempts to have some sort of reality, but mostly fails.  Other than Joan Allen- who's always great and serious- the rest of the Cast finds themselves adrift in the insanity.

Cage as Cage (as opposed to Cage as Travolta) is a brilliant, twisted delight.  This Film went through many theoretical Castings over the years, but I'm glad they landed on him.  Can you imagine, for instance, Harrison Ford as this guy?  How about Sylvester Stallone?  Those both almost happened!

Having John Woo on-board gives the Film all of the flourishes that you'd expect.  Yes, the doves get released.  Yes, people jump around with two guns, as if that is really a viable strategy.  Yes, people get thrown around on wires.  My favorite of those is an FBI Agent who is shot by a shotgun and goes back a good 4 feet!

If you've heard of Face/Off, you know what to expect.  However, EXPECTING it and EXPERIENCING it are two different things.  

See our Hero save the day...even if his Daughter is going to need a lifetime of Therapy to forget some things...

Face/Off is a must see for fans of '90s Action or people that never got to live it.  Seriously, it's a bizarre delight!