Extremely unrealistic, but a lot of fun at times

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2020)

"Face/Off" is an American (mostly) English-language live action film from 1997, so this one is already over 20 years old, getting closer to 25 in fact, and it is a pretty long movie at almost 2 hours and 20 minutes. The director is John Woo and, fittingly with Asian filmmakers also making big waves these days, here we have a really successful and prolific Chinese director who made many films in his own country, but this one here is maybe his most known Hollywood movie. It is also a definite contender for most known for writers Werb and Colleary. As for the cast: You see the two big players already on the poster here on imdb. Reading this is about a cop and a terrorist, I initially thought Travolta would be the bad guy, but nope it is the other way around. Or is it really? Actually I was right if we consider the face change for the majority of the film. Just not in terms of beginning and end. Okay, I listed the actors already. Travolta was an Oscar nominee at that point and Cage just won his Oscar for "Leaving Las Vegas" right before this film was made. The biggest supporting player is Joan Allen, actually the only supporting player with decent baity material, and if we believe awards bodies she was also at her peak back then scoring two Oscar nominations in the mid-90s. But this film here did not score any acting Academy Award noms. It did get in for sound though and it seems accurate, for it is maybe the film's best aspect. Technically, it is a pretty good film for sure. I am generally not too big on action sequences and I must say I did not enjoy them as much here as others did maybe, but the early scene with the airplane, then the big spectacular shootout at the terrorists' headquarter and finally the boat scene weren't too bad. As for the shootout I mentioned in the middle, they used a somewhat different version of Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and that was an interesting pick obviously chosen to create a great deal of contrast there because all we see is bullets flying around, people being killed and lots of screaming and at the same time we hear such a harmonic tune. I wished it could have really worked, but it did not. At least not for me.
Anyway, I already said in the title that this is a very unrealistic film. It definitely is. Even if we do not focus too much on the general idea of scientists being able to give one character's face to another and people really think immediately it is him, there is a lot more I can only accept from the guilty pleasure perspective. Like the moment Cage's character sees his bloody face, he immediately knows what to do and has a plan. I mean I don't say they should have him go insane like many probably would, but come on at least give him like a day or two to calm down and understand what happened. Yes he is a very capable and straight-forward guy, but still. Next example would be how they actually managed to kill everybody who knew about the face change (somewhat perfect title for this film really). I mean how would they know who was involved. And also how does his boss not know (the one with the heart attack later on). Archer (not Sterling) seems like such a role model who would always follow protocol, so I think the boss definitely should have known. Another thing I found hard to believe is that there is apparently no time for the face to recover and it is all fixed immediately, no pain, no rest, nothing. I mean Travolta's character even gets punched hard to the face when in jail and this may not be the very best idea taking into account the surgery he just had. And still it's not a problem. Also the film takes place in 1997 as we see on one occasion, so if they had moved it to the year 2030 or so, then maybe I could say okay with what according to them science could do in 2030 it is acceptable, but just telling us there are secret programs that made this possible in 1997 does not work for me. Speaking about the prison, there I thought it was unrealistic that he somewhat manages to bond with the guy who really hated him because he slept with his wife and sister and this came so out of nowhere before he got the electric shocks that I find it difficult to believe this was all his plan and he knew it would work. Too much concidence. Also not very credible how he really got away from the island in the end. Sometimes he felt like a superhero and his thirst for revenge and for getting his life/wife back can only explain so much. So yeah, I think it is a very unrealistic film all in all, even if we accept the idea that a guy actually agrees to give up his face (even if just for a while) and it all works out from the surgery perspective. I mean even that in the end he gets his old face back as if nothing happened. Unreal.
But there are good moments too, many actually. I liked all the parts that involved Allen's character. Her not knowing that she stands at her son's grave with the actual killer was a really tense moment. Or also her actual husband trying to convince her who he really is. This was nicely done and handled, also the way Allen acted in all these scenes. If anybody deserved an acting nomination from the cast, then it would have been her. It was a challenging role and I cannot criticize anything. I mean the idea of her not knowing it is somebody else when seeing him naked or even having sex is difficult to grasp, but let's be real here. How could she? The truth is so absurd. So as for the two leads, I am writing this as somebody who likes Travolta. More than Cage at least, but both had okay moments. The scenes with the daughter were awkwardly funny like how he would really be interested in screwing her, but it may be difficult as she thinks he is her dad, even if all of a sudden a much more virile version. Also I mention the scene with the suitor in the car. Now it's always fun to see Travolta beat up others no denying. How actually the bad guy gives her the knife afterwards was also a smart inclusion with how she uses it against him eventually. Or how she apologises to her real dad at the very end worked well too, comedically and dramatically. Maybe storywise they could have done more with the scar Travolta's character has. And there are some smart parallels here. Like how both characters act towards the other's kids. Made me also wonder if Cage's character could have turned out differently had he known he has a boy. Or how they act towards each other's loves. Not sure if "love" is the right word for Cage's character. At the end, there is of course the super happy ending that the orphan boy now gets a new family and the family at the center of the film gets a new member. Not a replacament for the son, but maybe something they can give all the love that was taken from them back in the day. So overall, this film is not a failure. You just should not watch it if you are in the mood for an authentic realistic crime thriller because for that, it is just too absurd on many occasions. I explained these occasions before. Still, if you like Travolta and Cage or love at least one from the duo, then this is absolutely worth seeing. The supporting cast is also solid, even if most of them have only one scene. I can see why it has such a high rating here on imdb, but the fact that also critics loved it apparently I must admit surprises me a bit. I thought they would have been harsher here. So from me it is a thumbs-up for this movie. Not one of my favorites from its year, but I say that you can go watch it if you haven't already.