Giving new meaning to the words face lift.

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2002)

Face/Off is the quintessential summer movie. It's big, fast, violent, action-packed. It's also smart, clever and immensely entertaining. John Travolta and Nicholas Cage play the leads, and I guess you could describe their over-the-top performances as "ripe." Travolta is the good guy, Sean, a law enforcement officer willing to go beyond the call of duty to put a stop to bad guy Castor (Cage). Can Sean save Los Angeles from a poison-gas bomb planted by Castor and his demented brother? In the course of events that could lead to a possible L.A. wipeout, the two leads get to trade identities, families and, yes, even faces. Travolta and Cage seem to be having a ball goofing on each other and we share in their fun. The energetic direction is by Hong Kong master John Woo (yes, the very same Woo responsible for killing Mission Impossible II) in his best Hollywood outing by far. Woo certainly knows his way around a chase and a fight (he's been referred to as "the Mozart of mayhem"), but he also manages some genuinely resonant human drama this time out. A must-see.