Carries Effect Action Sequences and a Silly Script

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2000)

Since Face/Off is based on a relatively absurd premise, it's quite easy to look pass various questions concerning logic. For example, is it really possible for the transition of the faces of people with different blood types to work (the story behind it felt contrived by the way), how can somebody still be able to smoke after they have just had their face taken off, how and why can you tell the amount the bullets you have left, etc. This is off-set by some effect camera work (e.g. up close shots of bullets leaving guns the moment that they're fired) that gives something extra to the action sequences. For example, there's an action sequence that somehow gives off an illusion that someone is firing a gun while on top of a moving squad car. But it seems that as the film goes on, the dialog just gets unintentionally sillier and it absolutely gets to a point were the the only thing that Face/Off can fall back on is the action (which can be over-blown and tense at the same time) in spite of the fact that it seems to try to off-set its premise by throwing in a plot about revenge. While the film carries an increasingly mediocre script, then I suppose it works to a certain degree on a psychological level like its usage of mirrors in certain parts.