Face/Off (1997)

Starring: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, 
Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon

Directed by: John Woo

Written by: Mike Werb, Michael Colleary

Duration: 2hrs 21mins

Rating: 5 out of 5

Face/Off is something of a historical artefact.  It marks one of those all too rare moments in the cinematic medium where every element fits perfectly to create a product of the very highest calibre. 

The movie was a turning point in the careers of the three main players.  It’s essentially John Woo’s Greatest Hits.  His central preoccupation of two men on either sides of the law with interconnected fates is stretched to a supremely absurd degree; there’s a tense scene in a hospital; a shoot-out with a child in the middle; a climax in a church...  But just like many greatest hits albums, it ultimately turned out to be something of a eulogy – Woo hasn't made a decent film since.

THIS WAS SOON TO BECOME...

...THIS

For Travolta, it was the apex of his mid-90s comeback, before self-indulgence (Battlefield Earth), several repetitive bad-guy roles and films with ‘Hogs’ or ‘Dogs’ in the title eroded away any retro-cool he’d clawed back.

And as for Cage, it was the end of his short-lived stint as an action movie go-to guy and the start of a slide into farce and IRS-influenced role choices.

CAGE TRANSCENDS CAPTIONING

It's the last truly great action movie of the ‘90s, before The Matrix came along two years later to suck the fun out of the genre and replace it with clod-psychology and tension-free video game cut-scene shoot outs.  The next time an action movie was this much fun was 2007's Shoot 'em Up. 

I WOULD HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE 
BASED ON THIS  IMAGE ALONE

But Face/Off also manages to provide a surprising amount of pathos, which is delivered in spades by a cast who wouldn’t look out of place on something ‘worthier’ –  as well as the two leads on top form we have the likes of Joan Allen and Alesandro Nivola giving performances with depth and subtlety.  It has a raw, almost Shakespearian gravitas: Castor Troy kills his way to the top like a gun-toting Richard III; Sean Archer is a Hamlet figure, motived by a revenge that threatens to drive him bonkers; mistaken identity forms the crux of the plot; two families are central, with sons, brothers and sisters all perishing in the carnage.  I salivate to think how amazing Romeo + Juliet could have been in the Hong Kong maestro’s hands – Baz Luhrmann’s take was just campy Day-Glo Woo, after all. 

"SEE ANYTHING YOU LIKE?"

A master craftsman working with the right people at the exactly right time in an aligning of the planets which, unless Woo re-teams with Chow Yun-Fat, we are unlikely to be treated to ever again.  *****