I don't know what it is about Hong Kong directors coming to Hollywood that doesn't resonate with me the way their Chinese-language work does, but Face/Off isn't as memorable an experience for me as it is for most action fans. I'm almost sure that if John Woo had made this face-changing movie with Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau, with the same fireworks squibs, insane villainy, explosive boat chases, and riffs on the Mexican standoff, I'd have eaten it up. (Maybe cut the doves in a church bit, which just feels like a producer told Woo he could repeat himself because audiences likely hadn't seen his HK stuff.) Underwhelmed though I may be, I can't deny the film is often effective. There's real tension when the bad guy meets the good guy's family. Nicholas Cage is a good hero, and Travolta a good villain (though I don't think we get enough of Cage's antics as the villain to really make the switch sing). There are some fun action sequences - the prison break is likely underrated - and Woo knows how to spin a good leitmotif (pointing their guns at the mirror, for example). The more I think about it, the more virtues I find, but it's no Hard-Boiled or anything.
Warning: not a movie about Hockey. Watch John Travolta playing Nick Cage pretending to be John Travolta FACE OFF against Cage as Travolta as Cage and then have sex with Travolta's wife. Everyone will lightly touch their own/each others'/their photographs'/their mirror reflections' faces. Slow motion doves in church.
(also in case you were wondering) http://www.moviebodycounts.com/Face_Off.htm
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Comments 1 - 15 of 19
beasterne
The best worst movie ever made.thestuman101694
A very touching movie . . . face touching that is.Siskoid
I don't know what it is about Hong Kong directors coming to Hollywood that doesn't resonate with me the way their Chinese-language work does, but Face/Off isn't as memorable an experience for me as it is for most action fans. I'm almost sure that if John Woo had made this face-changing movie with Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau, with the same fireworks squibs, insane villainy, explosive boat chases, and riffs on the Mexican standoff, I'd have eaten it up. (Maybe cut the doves in a church bit, which just feels like a producer told Woo he could repeat himself because audiences likely hadn't seen his HK stuff.) Underwhelmed though I may be, I can't deny the film is often effective. There's real tension when the bad guy meets the good guy's family. Nicholas Cage is a good hero, and Travolta a good villain (though I don't think we get enough of Cage's antics as the villain to really make the switch sing). There are some fun action sequences - the prison break is likely underrated - and Woo knows how to spin a good leitmotif (pointing their guns at the mirror, for example). The more I think about it, the more virtues I find, but it's no Hard-Boiled or anything.c0t0d0s2
This movie is action cheese elevated to brilliant cinema.VChile
Preposterous action flick, with doves.ignatzkat
So good. So stupid. SO GOOD.mikaelrev
I can't take this movie seriously. Cage is just too fucking weirdFlicker
Warning: not a movie about Hockey. Watch John Travolta playing Nick Cage pretending to be John Travolta FACE OFF against Cage as Travolta as Cage and then have sex with Travolta's wife. Everyone will lightly touch their own/each others'/their photographs'/their mirror reflections' faces. Slow motion doves in church.(also in case you were wondering) http://www.moviebodycounts.com/Face_Off.htm
maggidan
This movie is too great.dchauvin
Nicolas Cage.MikeyLou
It's just so gloriously bad...nick-samuel
Awful ending.The Doctor
John Travolta and Nicholas Cage at their hammy bestDieguito
just a regular movie..Alias
Nicolas Cage and John Travolta overact the crap out of each scene and then shoot at each other. Sign me the fuck up.Showing items 1 – 15 of 19