Woo's First American Triumph

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2002)

Throughout the 80's John Woo along with others like Sam Raimi and Tery Gilliam was the cult fans favourite and known to them as the best action movie maker in the world. It took the rest of the film world a while though to notice, maybe the hand-over of Hong Kong to Communist China (openly loathed by Woo) forced him to make his way to Hollywood before the studios were really willing to have him. The result of this the disappointing Hard Target and unrecognisable Broken Arrow but somehow Woo was given another chance and took it with great relish.
Face/Off is Woo at his over the top, furiously paced finest, the story might be highly implausable and its hadling hysterical but it serves to give the film the playground that both Woo and his actors thrive in. The action scenes are tremendous, staged as only Woo really can and strangely for this usually vacuous genre there is a strange kind of social commentary about the importance of family and marriage that has been overlooked by many. Up there definitely as one of the best action/adventure films ever 4/5