"No more drugs for that man!"

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2005)

Aside from giving that classic quote to our vocabulary, this remains John Woo's best American film. It also represents twin peaks for its action leads, John Travolta (who was experiencing a post-"Pulp Fiction" career renaissance and Nic Cage (completing his "action trilogy" which began with "The Rock" and continued with the equally improbable "Con Air." In "Face/Off", the situations are so extreme as to be upsetting to the sensitive viewer. The screenplay has a genuine sense of sadism towards the Archer character, but is equally cruel to the Troy character for very different reasons. As the FBI man slides into drug-addled depravity and the life of a hunted man, the terrorist learns what it's like to be a family man who has to help his new "wife" bear the tragedies that were created by his own hand. Yes, the ending is over the top with heavy borrowing from other boat- chase flicks ("Live and Let Die," "Patriot Games") but by the time this movie gets to its slam-bang finish, it's all anticlimax. Emotions are the key in "Face/Off" and what makes it stand above its explosive brethren as an example of the thinking person's action flick.