1997 / 138m - USA
Crime, Sci-fi, Thriller
3.5*/5.0*
Face/Off poster

Watches

May 30, 2004

4.0*/5.0*

January 13, 2022

3.5*/5.0*

An old favorite of mine. After rewatching Hard Boiled last year I had good hopes for Face/Off, but it seems John Woo's US work is a bit more prone to aging. It's not even the practical effects or the action scenes, but everything in between that pulls the rest of the film down. And since there's quite a bit of that in this 140-minute film, the overall appeal took a small hit.

The concept is still simple but genius. The feud between a hardened criminal and a devoted cop gets a fun twist when they swap faces (and thus identities), without the people around them being aware of the switch. It's a little headfuck that turns a basic action flick into a something slightly nastier.

While the premise is cool, it does mean that Cage is forced to play a softer character, whereas Travolta has to strain himself to play a badass criminal. The action scenes are still cool as ever and Cage really fits well into Woo's universe, the rest of the cast is noticeably weaker and fails to bring the cool. The drama in between is also pretty daft. If you'd trim the film down to 90 minutes it could still be a masterpiece, but at 140 minutes there are just too many weaker moments.