Face/Off (1997)

Face/Off (1997)

10/10

Starring

John Travolta

Nicolas Cage

Directed by John Woo

There is no better action film out there than the one this duo (Travolta and Cage) dug up in Face/Off. With a heavy budget put into the intense action scenes, director John Woo won the Saturn Award for Best Directing as he leads us down a path where we discover the repercussions of a life without forgiveness.

The movie’s high point is the speedboat chase toward the end of the film. The scene won an MTV Movie Award for Best Action Sequence, and the duo won Best On-Screen Duo (also at the MTV Movie Awards) for Travolta and Cage.

The movie tries to show the effects of personal feuds and how, if not contained, they can ruin the lives of those we love. Nothing illustrates this lesson better than this classic, which draws its themes from the Greek mythological feud between Hector and Achilles. The names Castor and Pollux also come from a pair of brothers in Greek mythology. The iconic face-off scene at the end, with doves flying around, is reminiscent of Woo's classic 1989 Hong Kong film The Killer.

The plot revolves around Sean Archer (John Travolta), an FBI agent who has been chasing down criminal crime lord Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) for years. Their feud led to the death of Archer’s son, Michael, and Archer strongly believes that his son's killer is his sworn enemy, Castor Troy.

Archer finally corners Castor one day, and a fight breaks out, leaving Troy knocked out cold. However, Archer later discovers that Troy has planted a bomb somewhere in Los Angeles, and the only person who knows its location is Castor's brother, Pollux, who refuses to talk.

To get Pollux to talk, a special operations doctor proposes a radical solution: cutting off Troy's face and placing it on Archer. Archer undergoes the surgery, with only a few people aware of the operation, and takes on Troy's face to go undercover.

But things go wrong when Castor Troy regains consciousness and seeks revenge on Archer for stealing his face. The first thing Troy does is kill everyone who knows about the operation.

Face/Off was highly hyped before its release, which happened to be the same year Titanic (1997) came out. Face/Off lived up to the hype, leaving audiences wanting to watch it over and over again because one ride is never enough. It was also a commercial success, making three times its budget at the box office. The film holds a 94% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The only thing separating this movie from old-time classics like Mad Max is its intense use of action set pieces.

The acting by these two is something I won’t forget anytime soon. When I watched the movie upon its release, I wanted to be an action hero like one of them. To me, Face/Off is a classic and one of the best action films I’ve seen to date.