Face/Off Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title; Face/Off
Year: 1997
Director: John Woo
Country: US
Language: English

Born May 1st, 1946 in Hong Kong John Woo is a noteworthy film director, writer and producer. His best films (Hard Boiled, The Killer, Red Cliff) were made in his native country, but he has made modestly successful pictures in Hollywood. He is considered a great influence in the action genre, known for creating an atmosphere of suspense, often ending in a Mexican standoff. In 1993 he emigrated to the States as he was contracted by Universal Studios. Later Paramount Pictures contracted him to make Face/Off. Woo rejected the script several times, until it was written to suite his signature style of filmmaking.

To foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent (John Travolta) undergoes a face-transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a ruthless terrorist (Nicholas Cage). But the plan backfires when the same criminal impersonates the cop with the same method.

To date, this is my favorite Nicholas Cage flick. Though directed by a dramatic film-maker, Face/Off is a remarkably fun and off-kilter picture. The two actors play it loose, having given a freedom to act like each others public and onscreen persona.  Travolta does his best impression of the bizarre cage, and vice-vesa. Travolta and Cage do not use dubbed voices, and don't try to imitate each other's speaking voices precisely when "occupying" each other's bodies. Instead, knowing that the sound of a voice is created to some degree by the larynx of his host body, they provide suggestions of each other's speech and vocal patterns, along with subtle physical characteristics.Thanks to a microchip implanted in their larynx, vocalization of each other is made easier.

Of course only their faces are switched, so this does lead for some interesting plot-holes. Wouldn't somebody notice that Travolta's character has a different body? There is a sex scene in the picture, wouldn't the woman notice the difference in penis size? Woo is not really concerned with this, but he does explore how appearance shapes our identity. When Travolta has the face of a killer, his body language becomes more cold and calculating. There is a tremendous amount of action in this movie, which deters from Face/Off being allowed to become a more intelligent picture, but Woo's action is well choreographed and entertaining.

I enjoyed Face/Off even though it was too frantic at times to allow me to indulge in the moral and philosophical implications of exchanging faces with a criminal. The usual cat and mouse game has been turned up a notch, as this is not a predictable action/thriller (though it does contain the cliche speedboat fight) The writing is clever, witty and engaging. This is above average, even though it is quite goofy. 3.5/5