Dark, grimy, bears little resemblance to most action films

Rating: Null/10 (21 May 2000)

Going into 'Face/Off' I was expecting something along the lines of 'Speed' (my favourite action film), and because of this I felt a little cheated coming out. The movie is unlike most of today's high-tech big budget action movies, it feels more like a Hong Kong kung fu movie without the kung fu than anything else I've ever seen. In 'Broken Arrow', John Woo's previous outing (also starring John Travolta), the characters are big, larger than life, even a little cartoonish, and that's what made the movie so enjoyable. Here there is absolutely none of that, almost no humor in the script (Travolta- who was a great over the top villain in the previous film, seems to have no fun here). Even so, the movie is still well worth seeing, especially for the brilliantly executed action sequences
One thing that really got to me after a while lies in the sound and script. Even other sound heard in the movie is either a gunshot, or a character saying the name 'Sean'. You'd think that after a couple dozen times we'd get the point that the main character's name is Sean. God. That and Castor, a name that was uttered at least thirty times.
Much of the movie was dark and grungy, harder to sit through thaan the warm and sunny 'Broken Arrow' or 'Speed'. It was very different from most of today's movies, and that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Thankfully the movie features powerhouse performances from both Travolta, and especially Nicolas Cage, in his best performance since 'Leaving Las Vegas'.
It's easy to see where the hugely massive budget went, since it obviously didn't go to the supporting cast, which is littered with names no one has ever or will ever hear(d) of. Instead it went towards the action sequences, which, as I've already mentioned, are the best part of the movie.
One odd thing is that for the last five minutes, the movie quickly changes tone, which is actually quite effective, and just reinforces the fact that Travolta's comeback wasn't a fluke
See it only if you're a fan of Travolta, Cage or Woo, otherwise you're likely to be disappointed.
6/10