# Face/Off (1997)

### reviewed by
Jeff Walters

    **Face Off**
    Reviewed by Jeff Walters

A couple of months ago, when I first downloaded the Face/Off trailer from the Net, my initial reaction was a fourteen carrot gold 'yawn'. Followed swiftly by a press of my computers delete key, not wanting to waste six or seven megabytes of precious space on this piss-poor trailer. Then I started reading the first wave of reviews from the U.S.....unique...excellent....must-see. Well, I thought still skeptical, I suppose I might as well go see it when it gets here. 'Here', of course, was still three months away.

I'll admit, when I trotted off to see this film, the only John Woo movie I had seen before was the fairly enjoyable but highly forgetable Broken Arrow. I'd heard good things about his previous work with movies like Hard Boiled, but his films were definitely not on my must-see list. That, let me tell you, has changed completely. I knew this fact only five minutes into the film, after the brilliantly shot and acted opening sequence where Sean Archer loses his son blew me off my feet.

The acting throughout the film is staggeringly good for an action flick. Seriously. I've never been a big John Travolta fan, but he, like Cage, perfectly suited his role in the movie.....sorry, make that 'roles' in the movie. Even Travolta's great performance, however, paled in comparison to Cage's character portrayals. My favourite Cage scene was definitely when he was crashed out in compardre Dietrich Hassler's hideout. Half drugged out of his mind, he sits there reclining back in a chair talking about his son's death from Castor's perspective - "Doesn't it just break your heart." he mutters coldly.

Now don't go thinking from the previous comments about brilliant acting that this is a drama focused movie - it's not. That's what really makes this movie unique. It's an action movie with brilliantly portrayed characters.....not a common mix at all. Suspension of disbelief is paramount in this movie though.....that's the only way to overlook the fact that Travolta and Cage fire around 5671 rounds at each other....and never hit.

Several action scenes are just so well choreographed that they just make wish that you could press 'rewind' and watch it over again. The part where Archer and Troy have a stand off on either side of a double-sided mirror is just plain brilliant.

Whilst Cage's and Travolta's performances would be enough alone to sustain most movies, the lesser characters are just as intriguing. Joan Allen, who usually sticks to the straight drama movies, plays her part perfectly as Archer's long suffering wife. I like the fact that her character didn't end up toting a gun at the end of the movie...it would have wrecked her potrayal. Gina Gershon was surprising to say the least as Castor Troy's mistreated girlfriend.....make that *one of* Castor Troy's mistreated girlfriends. Other movies would have used her character as just window dressing...a sex object, but instead her character is very strong and independent. Dominique Swain, who plays Archer's daughter, also does a nice job, though her character is not as explored as much as Allen's or Gershon's.

Faults? Well...there were some I have to say. First, the movie's ending, whilst being very good overall, was a bit too drawn out for it's own good. After the two combatants begin duelling again after the final boat crash you can't help but think - "Geez, are you guys nuclear powered or what?". There were certain bits that weren't handled properly, like where Archer appears safe and sound on solid ground after jumping off the converted oil platform/prison - more explanation here would have been nice.

Overall, this movie was not perfect. But I thought it was about as close as an action movie has ever came to perfect. Many critics have claimed that this movie will change the way action movies are made.....I certainly hope so.

    4 1/2 stars out of 5

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