Oh John Woo, don't ever change

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2012)

If you can watch a John Woo film without being on the edge of your seat, I'm pretty sure you have no pulse. "Face/Off" is such an inventive movie when it comes to style, the techniques are just dazzling and all the action scenes are well above classic shoot-em-ups. I especially love that scene where hero and villain are standing back to back, Woo already sorta did that in "Hard Target" but somehow it's even better here. "Face/Off" is not all action scenes though. The plot, though completely nonsensical, is very compelling as well. It relies heavily on John Travolta and Nicholas Cage being able to switch characters without effort, and I'm glad to say neither actor disappoints. The way they pick up each other's traits is just brilliant. Even the family subplot of this movie is good, and family subplots in action movies are NEVER any good. Usually they're tacked on at the last minute in a desperate attempt to give characters depth, but in "Face/Off" it's an essential part of the story. "Face/Off" may be a dumb action flick to some, but it's a dumb action flick with one hell of a heart.