Escapist entertainment at its purist.

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 2008)

Out of all the movie genres available today, none please me more when pulled off correctly than the too often lame and castrated action movie. Face/Off, a feature that knows action and pulls it off eloquently, does more to get the adrenaline pumping than most of the genre's more standard fare, and while it certainly doesn't do much if anything- remarkably new, there's enough done extremely well to satisfy anyone's thirst for stylised, balls-to-the-wall action. It also represents peaks in both lead stars careers, which both have arguably failed to revisit upon subsequent tours of the genre; sure it's not Shakespeare and it's not Oscar nominee material, but that's all part of Woo's otherworldly charm here. Face/Off is more science-fiction than drama, but with a healthy dose of intellectually informed subtext and some brilliant character dynamics, the movie manages to grip from beginning to end, providing a healthy dose of escapist entertainment at its purist.
Telling the undeniably hammy story of Sean Archer and Caster Troy two arch nemesis types on the opposite ends of the law- where both end up swapping faces and in turn identities, Face/Off at base level is certainly cut from the same cloth as The Wizard of Oz in terms of its fantastic nature, but that doesn't mean that it loses its value as entertainment; rather, it reinforces it. Of course this is a story that seems perfect for your average sixties Star Trek episode, but again, that is all part of the charm. Not only is the premise an interesting one in itself, but Woo and his writers capitalise fully on the setup consistently, playing out the dynamics of the two characters' convoluted predicament with some juicy focus on character and the dualism of good and evil. It's the kind of movie that has to be taken further through the mind than face value, because, while Woo does well to give his movie a nice, comfortable balance between fantasy and reality, it's the ideas and nuances of this shift in character and themes that gives the movie its edge.
To say that Face/Off exists as a fine testament to both Travolta and Cage's skills as actors would be something of an understatement. To be sure, both play as Woo's puppets in his exaggerated, over the top world where people accentuate their shadings of black or white, but they do it so well that the caricature style becomes one with the movie itself. Furthermore, the dynamics that are involved here, from switching between personalities and in effect playing each other, the actors are given work here that extents far beyond the asking price of your average action thriller. As a duo, the two work well together as well as on their own; from the snarly façade of Castor Troy to the tormented psyche of Sean Archer, both actors embody both personalities as best as they can and often give life to moments that would easy to be glossed over if not played through Woo's absurdly glamorized and in turn engrossing style.
But let's not fall under any pretence here; Face/Off is first and foremost, an action movie. Yes, there are some great characters, touching drama and intellectually rewarding themes on dualism and metaphysical questions on personality and psychology, but all of this is given the bench to what Woo has arguably always been best at. This direct focus on huge, ridiculously potent action full to the brim with explosions, gunfire, violence and people flying through the air, forms what is quite possibly all that is best about the Hollywood action movie. With a distinct lack of shaky-cam syndrome and a larger desire to show how grand his images are, Woo delivers a visual and aural spectacle which is best to be taken on pure entertainment terms. One can easily point holes in nearly every aspect of the movie's plot, character and action, but it's hard to be so cynical when you're given masterfully executed shots that put so many other so-called action movies to shame.
When it comes to speaking for the action genre, one can't remain positive without thinking of how bloated and derivative it has become over the recent years. Yet looking back almost decade and watching Face/Off, it's somewhat uplifting to see that many years after its inception, there's still people out there capable of delivering the no-frills, no-nonsense excitement that made the genre such a formidable audience pleaser in the first place. Yes, this is by no means a cinematic classic, but its one of those movies that will likely be kept alongside such movies as Die Hard and Con Air, ready to be watched time and time again just for the sheer fun of it. Cinema, as much as it would like to deceive us, rarely does manage to deliver the true essence of fun; Face/Off is an excellent reminder that such movies don't always have to end up being mundane and formulaic.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)