Best American action movie ever

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 1999)

The reason why I like John Woo's Chinese films(what I've seen, anyway; "The Killer", "Once a Thief", "Hard-Boiled") and dislike most American action films by comparison (or even not by comparison) is they feel like they were made by a human being, while American action films feel like they were ground out by a machine. Woo films have plots which, while they may be implausible, are worth following, characters to care about, actors who get involved, and oh yes, spellbinding action. Whereas American action films, except the few good ones, have stupid plots, monoliths as heroes, terrible dialogue, cardboard characters, and just one blowup scene after another.
In "Hard Target" and "Broken Arrow", Woo had moments, but you could sense him being hemmed in by Hollywood. With "Face/Off", he finally gets to cut loose. Sure the story is implausible, but you don't think about it while you're watching it, because you're so caught up in it. And unlike Hollywood action films, where you don't care about who gets killed because neither do the characters, here you do care. Woo has said in interviews how much he liked old Hollywood musicals, and he choreographs his films like them. "Hard Target" and Broken Arrow" didn't feel like that, but this one does. And in Travolta and Cage, he has actors perfectly suited not only to his action flair, but also the operatic storyline.
Travolta was flat as the bad guy in "Broken Arrow", but here he gets to bring out his gift for parody, and he's quite enjoyable (and gets the film's best line; "Lies, mistrust, mixed messages; this is turning into a real marriage"). He's also good as Archer. The real story here, though, is Cage. He's great as the bad guy, but when he's called on to provide the emotional heart of the film, he does it in spades, especially in the scene where he's Archer wearing Castor Troy's face for the first time. The other actors are all good as well. I hope American action filmmakers learn from this film and make more movies like this.