Pass the Popcorn review

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2013)

Everyone knows that both John Travolta and Nicolas Cage have strange acting careers – both of them starred in some great movies and both of them starred in some awful movies. Actually, nowadays it seems they act only in awful-to-average movies, which is a shame since I think both of them are talented actors. Face/Off is a 1997 action movie directed by the famous action movie director John Woo and it serves as a proof of how Cage and Travolta are really good actors. And it's also one of the better movies in both their careers.
Face/Off is a story about two men – one is a cop named Sean Archer (John Travolta) and one is a crazy terrorist named Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Troy has killed Archer's son several years ago and since then the two have been mortal enemies. One day Archer finally manages to capture Troy and accidentally puts him in a coma – but not before he finds out the place where Troy has put a bomb meant to explode in a couple of days. So, Archer undergoes heavy surgery and switches faces with Troy in an attempt to speak with Castor Troy's brother - Pollux Troy (Alessandro Nivola) – and find out where they planted the bomb. The plan backfires when Castor Troy wakes up from his coma and takes Archer's face. The two then start a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
The best thing about Face/Off are the performances. Both Cage and Travolta had to play two completely different people with completely different personalities; and they were very successful in doing so. Interestingly enough both of them are better at playing the eccentric lunatic Castor Troy than in playing the part of the stoic cop Sean Archer. And if history taught us anything, it is that Nicolas Cage is absolutely amazing in playing crazy people. In the beginning of the movie, we see Cage dressed up as a priest who starts headbanging and dancing in front of a choir that is singing Hallelujah. If that's not a good enough reason to see this movie, I don't know what is. Although this is mainly a performance driven movie, the action in it is pretty decent and some action scenes were brilliantly directed.
Unfortunately, other action scenes appeared to me as somewhat pretentious and overblown, mostly towards the end of the movie. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in action movies but it goes completely against the depressive tone of the rest of the movie. Face/Off is essentially a movie about identity crisis and dealing with the possibility of someone else living with your family; it doesn't need exaggerated action scenes. However, in spite of that, Face/Off is still a fun movie with wonderful performances that will leave you satisfied. It is a rather worthy collaboration of two talented actors who deserve much more out of their careers.
Rating: 8/10 Read more at http://passpopcorn.wordpress.com/