Face/Off

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Face/Off
Face/Off movie poster
Directed by	John Woo
Produced by	David Permut Barrie M. Osborne Terence Chang
Written by	Mike Werb Michael Colleary
Starring	John Travolta Nicolas Cage
Music by	John Powell Michael A. Reagan (source music)
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Steven Kemper Christian Wagner
Distributed by	-USA- Paramount Pictures -non-USA- Buena Vista Distribution Touchstone Pictures Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	June 27, 1997
Running time	138 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Face/Off is a 1997 action film directed by John Woo and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. It tells of how an FBI agent must assume the physical appearance of his sworn enemy in order to stop a terrorist plot and how that same enemy then assumes his.

It is considered Woo's most successful American film, both critically and commercially. The film exemplifies gun fu and heroic bloodshed action sequences, and has Travolta and Cage each playing two personalities. It was the first Hollywood film on which Woo was given complete creative control and was acclaimed by both audiences and critics as a result. Eventually grossing $245 million worldwide, the film was a financial success.^[1]

[edit] Plot

Terrorist Castor Troy and FBI Agent Sean Archer face-to-face:
"Give up, Castor. Your time's up"
"Well, you better hit me, Sean, 'cause you only got one bullet left."
"So do you."
"Wow ! We've got something in common: we both know our guns !"

Public enemy number one and freelance-terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) is being relentlessly pursued by FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta), whose son was killed years earlier during an attempt by Troy to kill Archer. The FBI receives information that Castor's brother Pollux (Alessandro Nivola) has chartered a plane at a Los Angeles airport, and Archer knows the Troy brothers well enough to guess that Pollux "never flies without big brother!" Archer leads an FBI team in chasing the plane down a runway and is able to shoot one of the engines. Unable to take off, Castor kills the pilot and crashes the plane into a hangar. In the ensuing chaos, Pollux is captured by the FBI and Castor is knocked into a coma after bragging to Archer about a bomb that will destroy Los Angeles.

Archer believes Castor was bluffing, but after the FBI finds schematics for the bomb on a disk recovered from the wreckage, Archer realizes that the threat is real. Unable to find any information about the location of the bomb, Archer knows that the only way to obtain the location is from Castor's brother, Pollux. Knowing he would never confess the bomb's location to an undercover FBI agent, Archer's colleagues convince him to undergo a surgical procedure to switch faces with Castor's comatose body.

After the procedure, arrangements are made for Archer (as Castor) to be incarcerated with Pollux , so that he can discover the location of the bomb which he does successfully. Castor awakens from his coma and has the procedure performed on himself, stealing Archer's face. Castor kills everyone who knew about the operation by soaking them in gasoline and burning them alive then visits Archer in prison. Castor (as Archer) has the FBI negotiate a deal with his brother for his release in return for revealing the bomb's location. Castor then proceeds to disarm the bomb and revels in praise from his colleagues and the media, informing his brother that they will use Archer's identity and influence to their advantage.

Archer (as Castor) escapes from Erehwon prison (Erehwon being "nowhere" spelled backwards), which is revealed to be inside an offshore oil platform, and swims to shore. He visits Dietrich Hassler (Nick Cassavetes), a known associate of Castor's, and asks Dietrich for help killing Sean Archer (Castor). Archer (as Castor) meets Sasha (Gina Gershon) and her son Adam, of whom Castor is the father. Archer's own son was killed by Castor and it was his birthday today. Archer sees a lot of his son in Adam.

Pollux Troy is watching Dietrich's apartment and informs Castor of Archer's arrival. Castor (as Archer) sends an FBI team to kill Archer. Following a gunfight, Dietrich is killed by Castor (as Archer) and Archer (as Castor) manages to kill Pollux.

FBI Director Victor Lazaro (Harve Presnell) berates Castor (as Archer) for the bloodbath. Castor, still angry at the loss of his brother, confesses his true identity to Lazaro and kills him, later blaming the death on a heart attack. Meanwhile, Archer (as Castor) returns to his suburban home and is able to explain the situation and convince his wife that he is really Archer.

Sasha and Archer (as Castor) track Castor to Lazaro's funeral, where Castor (as Archer) is holding Archer's wife (Joan Allen) and daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain) hostage. The ensuing standoff leads to a gunfight in which Sasha and Castor's men are killed. Castor and Archer fight and Archer gains the upper hand. Jamie finds a gun and shoots at Archer, believing him to be Castor, but wounds him in the shoulder. Castor takes her hostage but she gets him to let go by stabbing him in the leg — ironically a trick which he himself taught her earlier.

Castor manages to escape in a boat, pursued by Archer. After a lengthy chase both Archer and Castor's boats are destroyed and they are thrown ashore by an explosion. The two fight and Archer (as Castor) kills Castor (as Archer) with a spear gun. Archer's wife is able to convince the FBI of Sean's true identity and the face swap is reversed, with the exception of his scar (Archer was wounded in the incident where his son was killed), as he doesn't "need it anymore". The film ends with Archer having adopted Adam, Castor Troy's son, into his family, having promised Sasha that he will not grow up to be a criminal.

[edit] Production

Originally the film was to be set in the far future and was to star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in the lead roles. Another pairing that was considered was that of Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas. ^[2] When the film was eventually made, Douglas was an executive producer.

John Woo was offered a chance to direct but declined unless the studio agreed to give him more creative control than he had received on his previous American films. Travolta had previously starred in Woo's Broken Arrow (Cage was later to star in another Woo film Windtalkers). Woo set the movie in the present so he could focus on the psychological elements of the story, such as the effect that the feud between the two men has on Archer's family.

Costing $80 million to make, Face/Off made heavy use of action set pieces including several violent shootouts and a boat chase. It was filmed in the Los Angeles area.^[3][4] In line with Woo's style from his earlier films, many action scenes were filmed in slow motion. ^[1][5]

The names Castor and Pollux come from a pair of brothers from Greek mythology which also features the city of Troy. The story itself, most notably the hatred between Archer and Troy, is very similar to that of Hector and Achilles, who fought against each other in the Trojan War.

Pollux is held at Erehwon prison, a secret jail for top terrorists. The inmates do not even know which part of the country they are in. "Erehwon" is "nowhere" in reverse.The reversal is taken from the title of an allegorical novel by Samuel Butler.

The battle in the church, which includes doves flying around and religious artifacts being destroyed, is similar to the final confrontation in Woo's classic film The Killer. Doves are a symbol of peace.

[edit] Release

Face/Off was released in North America on June 27, 1997 and earned $23 million on its opening weekend. It went on to become the 11th highest grossing film of 1997 and has earned a worldwide lifetime gross of $245 million.^[6][3]

The Region 1 DVD of Face/Off was one of the first films to be released on the format on October 7, 1998.^[7] A 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition was released on DVD September 11th 2007 and HD DVD October 30th 2007 in the United States.^[8] The new DVD is a 2-disc set including 7 deleted scenes, an alternate ending and several featurettes.^[9]

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2007 by Buena Vista, and will be released in the United States on 20 May 2008 by Paramount Pictures^[10].

[edit] Reception

Garnering largely positive reviews and high box office earnings, the film was a critical and financial success. The role reversal between Travolta and Cage was a subject of praise, as were the stylized, violent action sequences. Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times remarked that "Here, using big movie stars and asking them to play each other, Woo and his writers find a terrific counterpoint to the action scenes: All through the movie, you find yourself reinterpreting every scene as you realize the "other" character is "really" playing it."^[11] Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said of the film, "You may not buy the premise or the windup, but with Travolta and Cage taking comic and psychic measures of their characters and their own careers, there is no resisting Face/Off. This you gotta see."^[12]

Some critics felt the film's violence was overkill, and that the action sequences dragged out too long. Barbara Shulgasser of the San Francisco Examiner called the movie "idiotic" and argued that "a good director would choose the best of the six ways and put it in his movie. Woo puts all six in. If you keep your eyes closed during a Woo movie and open them every six minutes, you'll see everything you need to know to have a perfectly lovely evening at the cinema."^[13]

Face/Off holds a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 46 positive reviews out of a total 50 and a score of 82 on Metacritic with 25 reviews counted.^[14][15] The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Sound Editing at the 70th Academy Awards, but lost to Titanic. Face/Off also won the Saturn Awards for Best Directing and Writing, and the MTV Movie Awards for Best Action Scene (the speedboat chase) and Best Duo for Travolta and Cage.^[16]

[edit] Soundtrack

Face/Off: Original Soundtrack Music By John Powell
Soundtrack by John Powell
Released	July 1, 1997
Recorded	1997
Genre	Score
Length	41:42
Label	Hollywood Records

[edit] Tracklist

1. Face On (4:57)
2. 80 Proof Rock (4:29)
3. Furniture (7:12)
4. The Golden Section Derma Lift (3:15)
5. This Ridiculous Chin (6:51)
6. No More Drugs For That Man (7:27)
7. Hans' Loft (3:37)
8. Ready For The Bif Ride‚ Bubba (3:54)

[edit] Album Credits

• Orchestra Conducted By: Lucas Richman
• Orchestrated By: Bruce Fowler, Steven Fowler, Walt Fowler, Yvonne S. Moriarty, Ladd McIntosh and Lucas Richman

[edit] Additional music

Several pieces of music and songs were used in the film but not included in the soundtrack.^[17] These include:

• "Hallelujah" from oratorio 'Messiah' (by Handel)
• Pamina's Aria "Ach, ich fühl's" from "Die Zauberflöte" (by Mozart)
• "Prelude in D-flat, Op. 28, No. 15 ('Raindrop')" (by Chopin)
• "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" (by James Brown)
• "Over The Rainbow" (by Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg, performed by Olivia Newton-John)
• "Christiansands" (by Tricky)
• "Don't Lose Your Head" (by INXS)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Face/Off

• Face/Off at Allmovie
• Face/Off at the Internet Movie Database
• Face/Off at Metacritic
• Face/Off at Rotten Tomatoes
• Face/Off at the TCM Movie Database