THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
You want to know what it’s like to switch lives with your greatest enemy? You get Face/Off.
PLOT
The film follows FBI Special Agent Sean Archer, who has been on the hunt for Castor Troy, a terrorist who attempted to assassinate him six years prior, only to inadvertently take the life of his son Michael (Myles Jeffrey). He is able to ambush him and his brother Polllux at a remote desert airship, but when he gets put into a coma, the agent is unable to figure out the whereabouts of a bomb planted in Los Angeles, set to detonate in a few days. Knowing that Pollux won’t speak up either, Sean secretly goes through an experimental face transplant procedure by Dr. Malcolm Walsh to not only take Castor’s face, but also his voice and general appearance. After the successful procedure, he goes to Erewhon prison and convince Pollux he is his brother, which helps him gain the information of the bomb’s whereabouts. However, Castor unexpectedly wakes up and realizes his face is missing. This inspires him to call his gang, force Walsh to give him Sean’s face and kill everyone else who knows about the transplant. After his procedure goes successful as well, he visits Sean in prison and taunts him of what he’s done, planning to now take over his life. Pollux is let go when he tells Castor of the bomb’s location. This gives his brother the chance to take Sean’s credit to disarm the bomb and earning admiration in his office. He even gets closer to his family who he’s neglected for the past due to their rivalry. Sean eventually escapes after staging a riot, retreating to Castor’s headquarters. There, he meets Sasha Hassler, sister to his kingpin accomplice Dietrich (Nick Cassavetes) and their son Adam (David McCurley), who coincidentally resembles Michael. When Castor finds out that he broke out, he leads a raid to his headquarters, which doesn’t go as planned as Pollux gets killed in the middle of the commotion. Sean however, was able to escape with Sasha and Adam. When Sean’s superior, Bureau Director Victor Lazarro (Harve Presnell) calls him out for knowing too much, he kills kim and stages it as a heart attack, which results in him being promoted as acting director. When Sean is able to find safety for Castor’s family, he is able to approach his wife Eve and convince him to take Castor’s blood to prove what has happened between them. Once she does and is convinced of what is true, she is able to tell her husband that Castor will be vulnerable at the funeral of Lazarro. There, another standoff ensues and Sean’s family is taken hostage, but Sasha interferes and gets herself shot in the crossfire when protecting Eve. Castor makes a run for it and attempts to take Sean’s daughter Jamie hostage, but she breaks free with a butterfly knife he gave her in self defense. He is able to reach the nearby docks and commandeers a speedboat. Sean commandeers one of his own to catch up and the chase ends with a collision between both boats. Back on land, Castor taunts Sean by mutilating his face, but Sean finally ends things once and for all by impaling him with a spear gun. Backup agents arrive at the scene and address him as his actual identity, having been convinced by Eve of what has happened. The film ends with Sean returning to his family after surgery is reversed, adopting Adam into the family as a promise to Sasha that he will raise him away from the criminal life.
THOUGHTS
Action has been a standout genre for knowing when to be bonkers and this film is just that. Director John Woo and writers Mike Werb & Michael Colleary come through to provide something that is without a doubt insanely entertaining. Thanks to John Powell’s intensifying score, Oliver Wood’s cinematography, and well crafted editing by Christian Wagner & Steven Kemper, you are glued into each action sequence such as each shootout and the speedboat chase. To me, the main reason I get hooked each time I check it out is because in a way, it has a creative exploration on how we push aside our morals with the things we choose to obsess over and how it can consume us for so long, we'll forget to appreciate what we have. If you don't confront our demons sooner, we'll lose it all and won't know it until it is too late. All of this is carefully explored through both leads who arguably give masterclass acting throughout. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are downright incredible on playing both sides of the coin, the driven Sean Archer and the psychotic Castor Troy. Archer is the one who is more single minded as he solely determined on avenging his son, yet pushes aside his remaining family in the progress. Oddly enough, his experience living in his rival's face puts him in the realization of how mindset was not beneficial and only made him appreciate what was in front of him. Once he finally got rid of his main threat, his only concern was continuing to do right by the people he loved. Seeing him request the scar to be removed symbolizes how he is finally ready to move on. It did appear a little odd to adopt Adam as it comes off like putting a bandage on his broken heart, but the true reason he did this wasn't just for a promise he kept, but to continue his code to do right by others. Castor is a unique villain throughout because while he remains eccentric and sadomasochistic throughout, he oddly has a similar moral compared to Sean: He cares about family. He may have been originally hired to kill Archer in the first place, but he spared him after killing Michael, because he regretted failing as he saw his brother in that position. As he chose to continue making things personal, he oddly brought new life in his family because he made Eve confident again and gave Jamie the pep talk she needed to properly mourn for their loss. Once he lost family of his own, that was his brother, his respect disappeared and continued his goal make hell for everyone around him while he remained powerful. Thankfully, his reign of terror ended before it could get any worse. While both actors/characters keep us invested from beginning to end, the supporting cast are able to make a mark as well. As said before, Eve was as lost as the rest of her family felt after the loss of Michael, but Joan Allen also showed that she is as smart as the men around her. Had she not been a good doctor and self aware person, she would've not believed in the truth as she did. Dominique Swain portrays Jamie as the rebellious due to her youth, who is unsure how to cope with loss. She is just as lost as her mother and oddly thanks to Castor, she feels more headstrong when facing those who cross her. Alessandro Nivola leaves a good impression on me as well because as Pollux, he portrays him as one who has his own layer of psychotic tension. He's more quiet about it because he acts as playful as his brother would, which boosts him as intimidating as you'd expect. Since he is smart enough to make a bomb, the last thing you want is to piss off either Troy. The last actor I gotta give a shoutout to is Gina Gershon. She could've played Sasha as one who strategizes for herself, but in reality, she has a kid to live for, which gives her sympathetic points. With Adam in her life, she has the right motivation and doesn't want him in the world she got in the middle of. It sucks to see her die solely because she won't be around to see her son grow up with her. But if there is a heaven for her selflessness, you can bet she is looking from above in relief that he will grow up safely. While this film is timeless in my eyes, I can admit that it still has some issues to notice when re watching. Like for instance, why would Pollux pay for a plane in cash and use his real name? He should learn by now from his brother that it’s like asking to get caught. Speaking of which, how does Castor go unscathed when he crashes the plane? He’s not invincible, so it’s not believable that he didn’t even get a scratch. That’s crazier than how ballistics don’t come back to him when he kills a fellow agent when raiding his home to get Sean. I even wonder how no one in the office noticed Castor kill Lazarro. The blinds looked open, so it’s harder for me to buy that everyone was minding their business. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I hate continuity errors and it is no exception here when I spotted a wire on an agent Castor shoots at the runway shootout. And why didn’t Sean finish him off at the runway? He doesn’t know about the bomb until after he’s apprehended, so he had him dead to rights and would’ve been justified for getting revenge, so it’s pretty ridiculous that he didn’t capitalize. A dumber mistake he later makes is alerting Castor that he came to the church. I know he wants to isolate him, but he still messes up because his family is in more danger than ever. I know the concept of both characters swapping faces is what makes the movie entertaining, but what if that didn’t need to happen. Like they could’ve put Castor’s picture on the news and ask if anyone saw him. I’m sure anyone from the choir would spotted him out and the Convention Center would’ve been saved much sooner. It is a cool design for the prison to have a magnetic field to track inmates, but wouldn’t that mess with a lot of electronics or anything related to metal? It may be just the floors that have the field, but what kind of switch would be used to prevent accidental magnetisms? Would’ve been wild to see guards lose their weapons to a floor. Also, why the hell was Castor not guarded or restrained in the first place during his coma? Of course no one should expect it to happen, but precaution matters in situations like that. It did make sense for Castor to be out of character to struggle finding Sean’s home, but how did he know the street and not the full address? If he was so determined to take control by killing those who know of the truth, he should’ve pulled off getting his rival’s complete address. It is smart for him to steal Sean’s credit for defusing the bomb, but how does Pollux roll along with this? They don’t get any money if the bomb doesn’t go off, so what makes him sure to trust his brother at this point? I really don’t want to stretch this out and come off inappropriate, but do Sean & Castor have the same penis size? I know that sounds weird but if this is true, then that explains how Eve wasn’t suspicious after her first romantic night in a while. I then question how she doesn’t get too curious when Sean calls her from work. She knows her husband is acting different, so she could’ve asked some questions before hanging up. I know we oddly gain respect for Castor when he chooses to protect Jamie from her boyfriend who almost rapes her, but how dumb could that guy be to attempt sexual assault on the daughter of an FBI agent outside her home? The same result would happen if it was actually Sean and on top of that, the guy didn’t even look buzzed or drugged up, so his dumbass was asking for trouble in the worst way. And lastly, I dug the happy ending but how come Sean’s family didn’t wait for him at the hospital? You could say that the FBI prevented them from going, but I doubt Sean would let that happen. If this is to surprise them with Adam, that should’ve been clear. Ignore this, and this movie will still be just as awesome as you first saw it. In short, Face/Off is generally one of the best action movies ever made for taking advantage of its creativity and paying off in every possible way. If you’re getting into this genre, don’t waste any more time and see this now.
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