Cage/Travolta switch roles........brilliant.

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2005)

John Woo is the so called master of action films, where he puts heavy on the action and light on the characters, he does this again with FACE/Off, but what makes this film different is the fact that the characters actually switch roles in it, which makes it more interesting then his previous "american films".
We see the actors brilliantly display hate/love and imitate each other. Without this element, this film would probably fall flat on it's face in the action genre and become a fading memory, instead of making it's mark in film Other then the fact that they switch roles, what makes this film different from it's other rivals? Not that much, it's your typical gun fights here, explosions there, chase scene here, but does that mean that it makes it not enjoyable? Certainly not.
There are tons of scenes where the bullets fly for those action hounds and of course the movie has the signature double gun from hard boiled and Woo's birds flying away. Woo has a talented eye for action, but not very much for characters, does that harm this film, a little, but again with the fact that the actors in it, portray different personalities, you don't really get a sense of that, you feel for the character of Archer and his dead son. CAGE, who is a personal fav, gives a great performance, but it's TRAVOLTA, the "bad guy' who gets the glory in this film for having a fun time.
The story is laughable, but fun and that's what this movie is, pure fun. It does have emotional parts of it, but it does little for people who go to see this movie, unless your a sappy person who cries at the death of everybody. The ending is a little inane, but forgivable in this film. It could have had a better ending, which would have made the film go down in history as a great action film, instead of a fun action film, which is what so many action films are like today.