Very big disappointment

Rating: 3/10 (22 April 2000)

Ok, I really wanted to see this movie since nearly everybody seemed to like it. I really hoped that the film was not just hyped -- and was disappointed. The story is convoluted with way too many ideas, most of which would make excellent movies for themselves. But as it stays *Face/Off* just became an overlong explosion much like *The Rock*. The script has lots of logical errors, like a governmental agency lead by an emotionally involved man. Really, Sean Archer would only do some archival work, if anything, after losing his son through a sniper. And what about his marriage? I cannot understand (in any movie), how a stressed marriage is rescued just by some shoot outs? And why is it just a handful of bullets that can make "wild" teenager into good suburban citizens? And why does nobody wonder how (the wrong) Archer could possibly deactivate the big bomb in just one minute when all the experts could not do it in hours?
And what of Cage and Travolta -- well, I haven't seen this much hamming (especially on Travolta's side) since ... William Shatner after 1962.
To be fair, some scenes of the movie are quite good, like most of the first twenty minutes, the prison sequence and Cage (as Archer) with the criminal friends after his escape from Erehwon.
If you want to see a good action movie (or any kind of good film) this is not the one to go for.