Face/Off (1997) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error In order to foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent undergoes a face-transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a ruthless terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same criminal impersonates the cop. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 46 titles created 02 Dec 2011 a list of 22 titles created 25 Dec 2011 a list of 35 titles created 31 Mar 2012 a list of 30 titles created 25 Mar 2013 a list of 28 titles created 23 Sep 2014 Search for " Face/Off " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin.

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 21 nominations. See more awards » Videos Newly paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger Cameron Poe finds himself trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control. Director: Simon West A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco. Director: Michael Bay A retired master car thief must come back to the industry and steal 50 cars with his crew in one night to save his brother's life. Director: Dominic Sena A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph. Director: Jan de Bont Two hip detectives protect a murder witness while investigating a case of stolen heroin. Director: Michael Bay An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an Interpol agent. Director: Andrew Niccol A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.

Director: Tony Scott Two loose-cannon narcotics cops investigate the flow of Ecstasy into Florida. Director: Michael Bay An exceptionally adept Florida lawyer is offered a job to work in New York City for a high-end law firm with a high-end boss - the biggest opportunity of his career to date. Director: Taylor Hackford A loyal and dedicated Hong Kong inspector teams up with a reckless and loudmouthed LAPD detective to rescue the Chinese Consul's kidnapped daughter, while trying to arrest a dangerous crime lord along the way. Director: Brett Ratner Hijackers seize the plane carrying the President of the United States and his family, but he - an ex-soldier - works from hiding to defeat them. Director: Wolfgang Petersen Carter and Lee head to Hong Kong for vacation, but become embroiled in a counterfeit money scam. Director: Brett Ratner Edit Storyline Sean Archer, a very tough, rugged FBI Agent. Who is still grieving for his dead son Michael. Archer believes that his son's killer is his sworn enemy, a very powerful criminal, Castor Troy. One day, Archer has finally cornered Castor, however, their fight has knocked out Troy cold.

As Archer finally breathes easy over the capture of his enemy, he finds out that Troy has planted a bomb that will destroy the entire city of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants. Unfortunately the only other person who knows its location is Castor's brother Pollux, and he refuses to talk. The solution, a special operation doctor that can cut off people's faces, and can place a person's face onto another person. Archer undergoes one of those surgeries to talk to Pollux. However, Castor Troy somehow regains consciousness and now wants revenge on Archer for taking his face. Not only is Troy ruining Archer's mission, but his personal life as well. Archer must stop Troy again. This time, it's personal. Written by John Wiggins In order to catch him, he must become him. See more » Genres: Rated R for intense sequences of strong violence, and for strong language | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 27 June 1997 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $23,387,530 (USA) (27 June 1997) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia John Woo : [back to back banter] Sean vs.

Castor with an obstacle between them throwing around a few comments before the "showdown." See more » Goofs (at around 1h 35 mins) When Archer (as Castor) and Pollux are jumping across the skylight at Sasha's apartment, you can clearly see the safety lines that support the actors. See more » Quotes Castor Troy : [giving a speech] Everybody, I want to thank you for enduring all these years that I was an insufferable bore. Wanda : Sir, did you just have a surgical procedure? [Castor's smile freezes. He is unsure what Wanda means] Castor Troy : What do you mean? Wanda : Well, was the stick successfully removed from your ass? [relieved, Castor bursts out laughing. The others join his laughter] By Arrangement with Universal Music Special Markets Courtesy of Olivia Newton-John Woo's US breakthrough: A triumph!

26 January 2000 | by Libretio Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Panavision) Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS This magnificent thriller represents director John Woo's triumphant return to the kind of hyperkinetic, emotionally charged film-making which made him such a hot property in the first place. Following the artistic bankruptcy of his first two Hollywood projects, this one is a marriage of high-octane movie-making and mind-twisting narrative complexities. It's also one of the few American action movies which manages to strike a balance between crowd-pleasing set-pieces and domestic interludes, and renders them equally important. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are perfectly matched as hero/villain (and vice versa!), whilst heavyweight theatre actress Joan Allen provides the narrative with much of its dramatic backbone in the role of Travolta's wife (the scene in which she is first confronted with her husband in Cage's body is almost identical to a similar scene in Terence Fisher's FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED [1969]). Technically, the film is a blast, and Woo stages the action highlights with a visual grace and dexterity that is often breathtaking to behold.

The climactic speedboat battle is probably the finest set-piece of Woo's career to date, and the script is overflowing with visual and thematic ironies that underscore the action highlights. In fact, the production has arguably more dramatic resonance than any other Hollywood blockbuster of the 1990s, but the dictates of American commercialism mean that Woo is only able to skate over the emotional surface of his characters and their moral dilemmas. The two main protagonists are much too cold and heartless to fully engage the audience's sympathies, and there's nothing here that matches the scorching human drama of, say, BULLET IN THE HEAD (1990). But for all that, FACE/OFF dares to go deeper than your average Hollywood action picture. It's clever, witty and thrilling, and it manages to accomplish the difficult task of feeding the brain whilst entertaining the eye. 80 of 118 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Face/Off Movie Review & Film Summary (1997) | Roger Ebert There is a moment in "Face/ Off" when Sean Archer ( John Travolta ), a member of a secret FBI anti-terrorist team, confronts the comatose body of Castor Troy ( Nicolas Cage ), his archenemy, in the hospital. Advertisement "You're keeping him alive?" he asks incredulously. "Relax," says a medical man. "He's a turnip." To prove it, he puts out his cigarette on Troy's arm. Troy won't feel a thing when his face is surgically removed in order to be transplanted to Archer's skull, so the FBI man can enter prison disguised as Troy and get information about a deadly biological bomb. That exchange of faces and identities is the inspiration for "Face/Off," the new John Woo action thriller, which contains enough plot for an entire series. It's a gimme, for example, that as gravely injured as he may be, Troy will snap out of his coma and force a doctor to transplant Archer's face onto his own bloody skull - so that the lawman and the outlaw end up looking exactly like the other.

This is an actor's dream, and Travolta and Cage make the most of it. They spend most of the movie acting as if they're in each other's bodies - Travolta acting like Cage, and vice versa. Through the plot device of a microchip implanted in his larynx, Travolta is allegedly able to sound more like Cage - enough, maybe, to fool the terrorist's paranoid brother, who is in prison and knows the secret of the biological weapon. Advertisement The movie is above all an action thriller. John Woo, whose previous American films include " Broken Arrow " with Travolta, likes spectacular stunts in unlikely settings, and the movie includes chases involving an airplane (which crashes into a hangar) and speedboats (which crash into piers and each other). There also are weird settings, including the high-security prison where the inmates wear magnetized boots that allow security to keep track of every footstep. The high-tech stuff is flawlessly done, but the intriguing elements of the movie involve the performances. Travolta and Cage do not use dubbed voices, and don't try to imitate each other's speaking voices precisely when "occupying" each other's bodies.

Instead, knowing that the sound of a voice is created to some degree by the larynx of his host body, they provide suggestions of each other's speech and vocal patterns, along with subtle physical characteristics. The movie's premise is that only the faces change - so each actor also finds ways to suggest that he is not the original inhabitant of his body. (Troy-as-Archer at one point refers unhappily to Archer's "ridiculous chin," and the fact that it's Travolta playing Cage criticizing Travolta is typical of the spins they put on the situation.) For the Archer character, who begins inside Travolta's body and then spends most of the movie inside Cage's, the challenge is to fool a convict brother so suspicious that even when faced with the face of his own brother, he's cautious. For Troy, it's even trickier: He goes home to Archer's family, including his wife ( Joan Allen ) and confused teenage daughter ( Dominique Swain ), and has to convince them that he's the husband and father they know. The wife in particular is surprised by the renewed ardor of a husband whose thoughts, for years, have been on revenge rather than romance.

(Meanwhile, Archer as Troy is confronted by Troy's girlfriend, played by Gina Gershon ). Woo, who became famous for his Hong Kong action pictures before hiring on in Hollywood, is a director overflowing with invention. He works here with an original screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary , which explores the strange implications of the face-swap. One of the issues they touch on involves how much our appearance shapes our personality: If sweet, shaggy John Travolta looked like angular, sardonic Nicolas Cage, would he act any differently? The summers of 1996 and 1997 have both been dominated by big-budget special effects extravaganzas. It's interesting that Cage has been in three of them: " The Rock ," " Con Air " and now "Face/ Off." He brings a quirkiness to the material that's useful. Given the undeniable fact that the plot of "Face/Off" is utterly absurd, it would be strange to see a traditional action hero playing it straight. Cage adds a spin.

And here I was about to write: "For example, when he first sees Travolta's teenage daughter, he quips, `The plot thickens.' But of course it is Travolta who sees Travolta's teenage daughter, because it is Travolta playing the Cage character. Advertisement You see what thickets this plot constructs; it's as if Travolta adds the spin courtesy of Cage's personality, while Cage mellows in the direction of Travolta. Better to conclude that the two actors, working together, have devised a very entertaining way of being each other while being themselves. This business of exchanged identities is of course not new to drama. Shakespeare enjoyed having characters play each other (see " Twelfth Night "), and in Chinese and Japanese plays it's common for masks to be used to suggest identity swaps. Here, using big movie stars and asking them to play each other, Woo and his writers find a terrific counterpoint to the action scenes: All through the movie, you find yourself reinterpreting every scene as you realize the "other" character is "really" playing it.

Popular Blog Posts Face/Off (1997) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb Full Cast & Crew Create a character page for: Create » key hair stylist: second unit (uncredited) Production Management executive in charge of production (uncredited) Second Unit Director or Assistant Director first assistant director: second unit (as Artist Robinson) Art Department grip: second unit (as Paul Wilkowsky) Casting Department stand in: Nicolas Cage (uncredited) See also a list of 46 titles created 02 Dec 2011 a list of 22 titles created 25 Dec 2011 a list of 35 titles created 31 Mar 2012 a list of 30 titles created 25 Mar 2013 a list of 28 titles created 23 Sep 2014 IMDb Everywhere Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Face/Off (1997) - Movie | Moviefone Moviefone find it. watch it. search movies, tv, zip codes & more press enter to see all results More on Moviefone...

DVD Release Date: October 6th, 1998 R|2 hr 18 min Follow the movie on Facebook Plot Summary Obsessed with bringing terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) to justice, FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) tracks down Troy, who has boarded a plane in Los Angeles. After the plane crashes and Troy is severely injured, possibly dead, Archer undergoes surgery to remove his face and replace it with Troy's. As Archer tries to use his disguise to elicit information about a bomb from Troy's brother, Troy awakes from a coma and forces the doctor who performed the surgery to give him Archer's face. Alessandro Nivola as Pollux Troy Ratings & Reviews Rick Groen The Globe and Mail (Toronto) The result is a genre picture that transcends the genre, that gleefully embraces four qualities alien to the bulk of its noisy brethren: (1) thematic texture; (2) kinetic grace; (3) visuals that toy with the mind even while dazzling the eye; and (3) performers who are permitted to act like something other than human wicks for the pyrotechnical bombast.

show more 100 Exciting and then some, Face/Off blends the director's supercharged images of balletic brutality and spiritual catharsis with an off-the-wall humor that allows John Travolta and Nicolas Cage to really let it rip. show more 100 Amazon.com: Face/Off (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition): John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch, CCH Pounder, Robert Wisdom, John Woo, Barrie M. Osborne, Christopher Godsick, David Permut, Jeff Levine, Jonathan D. Krane, Michael Colleary, Mike Werb: Movies & TV Editorial Reviews Product Description An FBI agent and a psychopathic terrorist trade places and faces in the year's most spectacular action thriller. Amazon.com At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled).

He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing.

This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean Axmaker Special Features The Light and the Dark: Making Face/Off John Woo: A Life in Pictures Original Theatrical Trailer Face/Off (Film) - TV Tropes Actually, I Am Him : Victor Lazarro corners Castor about his Cowboy Cop raids: Castor Troy: OK, Victor, I'll, uh, give the taxpayers a break. [puts his hand on Lazarro's shoulder] But I've got something to confess. I don't think you're gonna like it. [puts his mouth on Lazarro's ear] Castor Troy: [angrily] I am Castor Troy! [throws Lazarro to the floor and punches him in the chest hard enough to stop his heart completely] Archer and Castor, with each other's faces, are in a Mexican standoff at the church. Sean Archer: This is between us. Leave them out of it. Castor Troy: No. You should have left them out of it. Your son was an accident. I wanted to kill you. But, you took it so personally!

Why couldn't you just kill yourself or let it go? Sean Archer: No father could. Castor Troy: No brother could either. [Castor's girlfriend Sasha comes in with a pistol in hand] Sasha Hassler: Neither could a sister. Hey baby. [She tosses a spare gun to Archer, as Archer has Castor's face] Castor Troy: [annoyed] Sasha, what the fuck are you doing here? Sasha Hassler: Gee, Archer, I'm crashing the party. You okay, baby? Sean Archer: Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks. Castor Troy: Sasha... baby, I'm Castor. He's Archer. Sasha Hassler: And I'm bored. Put the fucking gun down. Alas, Poor Villain : Pollux. The Alcatraz : Erehwon Prison (i.e, "Nowhere" spelled backwards), where the prisoners are forced to wear magnetic boots to get locked into place.

The prison and its name play into the film's only major The Reveal : as Sean Archer (played by Cage) is escaping the prison, he opens a door to walk outside to what he believes is a roof, only to find that it's a helicopter platform, and what lies down is not land, as Archer hopes, but sea. The prison really is "nowhere," it's on what used to be an oil rig. All There in the Script : The script reveals a number of interesting facts about the main characters that were never mentioned in the film: Castor Troy received a tattoo of the Sphinx on his tenth birthday. It also turns out that that was the day his mother died by overdosing. Though Castor had attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he failed. Afterwards, he made a promise to protect Pollux. Hence the reason why Castor seems overly protective of Pollux. Archer comes close to giving himself away by scratching his wedding band. Pollux is also clearly uneasy after telling Archer the location of the bomb because Archer smiles like himself, not like Castor. Sasha Hassler is 35 years old, and met Castor Troy at a Pearl Jam reunion.

Castor Troy does not like being called a wimp , as shown in the script's version of the scene where he beats up Jamie's boyfriend. The script also suggests that he doesn't seem really fond of the boyfriend simply because Castor thinks he's a bit old for her, even though the real Archer is a few years older than Eve. The script suggests Archer feels like he killed Tito and Lazarro, indirectly (albeit it was Castor Troy using his face). Director Lazarro turns out to have formerly served in the Navy as an admiral. Arch-Enemy : Castor Troy to Sean Archer. Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking : Castor Troy's gift box of contraband on the tarmac: two gold plated Springfield pistols, a bag of blue pills, sunglasses, 3 rolled cigarettes (or joints), 4 pieces of Bazooka Joe bubble gum, a switchblade, what appears to be a blue glass vial, and....a pack of Chiclets. Chekhov's Gun : Prior to the surgery, Dr. Walsh tells Archer that his and Castor's blood types are different, as Archer has O+ blood and Castor has AB- blood.

Eventually, after all the efforts Archer has tried to make to warn Eve that Castor is impersonating him fail, he remembers that their blood types don't match and manages to convince her to take a sample of her "husband"'s blood, knowing that when she runs it through a hemoglobin test, she will find the blood type to be AB-. Once the blood test confirms to Eve that Castor is impersonating Archer, Archer-as-Castor uses the story of their first date to fully convince her. Also, the voice chips that give Archer a Nicolas Cage voice and Castor a John Travolta voice when they acquire those respective faces end up proving a problem for Archer when he realizes he doesn't sound like himself. After the attempted rape scene, Castor gives Jamie a butterfly knife and shows her how to stab someone in the leg with it. Should have been careful with that, because when he uses her as a human shield against Archer in the church standoff and prepares to execute her, she takes out the knife he gave her and stabs him the way he taught her!

Cheshire Cat Grin : When Castor strides into the prison visitor's room wearing Archer's face, he gives one of these to demonstrate how delighted he is that Archer is locked up in prison while he is a free man. The Coats Are Off : Though this usually happens before a fight, Castor removes his jacket and rolls up his sleeves, singing "hallelujah" to himself while preparing to disarm "Sinclaire". Cold Sniper : The opening flashback shows Castor Troy setting up a sniper rifle on a hill overlooking a carousel that Archer is taking his son Michael on. He takes aim, and when he gets a clean aim, he fires. The bullet ends up going through Archer non-lethally and kills Michael. Combat Sadomasochist : Castor Troy looks like he's having an orgasm whenever he's doing evil things. For example, in the first chase and shootout, he has what looks like an o-face or a Slasher Smile as he pushes the beaten Agent Winters out the plane door in front of Archer, pistol to the back of her head, shouts "One of yours, Sean?!" and then proceeds to execute her to taunt Archer.

Conservation of Ninjutsu : It seems that large numbers of FBI agents, cops, security staff, and special agents are incapable of facing off against Castor Troy in a shootout. In the hangar gunfight, Castor offs the FBI agents like they were candy with just his twin gold-plated pistols (and at one point a SWAT officer's shotgun) until Sean Archer is taking him on one-handedly (for some reason the dozens of other agents stay out of the action once Archer and Castor have pistols trained on each other - but then again, Archer has a more personal vendetta against Castor than they do). Said agents should be much better trained to have the upper hand in a gunfight. Not even the SWAT teams are immune given the number of agents at Dietrich's apartment who are shot while wearing paramilitary gear and submachine guns. The Los Angeles FBI field office has to be suffering a severe shortage of men to adequately staff it by the end of the movie. Castor's gold-rimmed sunglasses that he wears at the airport prior to getting on the plane. Each character when being portrayed by Travolta wears aviator sunglasses.

Cool Guns : Castor Troy's weapon of choice during the opening chase and shootout are a pair of custom gold titanium nitride plated Springfield Armory M1911-A1 pistols. Later, Archer-as-Castor ends up using them in the shootout at Dietrich's apartment while Castor-as-Archer must settle for Archer's old duty pistol. The pair that Dietrich gives Archer prior to that shootout is definitely a different pair, though, given that the pair Castor used at the hangar shootout were likely seized by the police and booked into evidence. Counting Bullets : The hangar standoff has this: Sean Archer: [jams pistol to Castor's neck] Give up, Castor! Your time's up! [beat] Castor Troy: [laughs] Well, you better hit me, Sean, 'cause you got only one bullet left! Sean Archer: So do you! Cynicism Catalyst : One sees that Sean Archer fell into this after his son's death, which has led to his obsessiveness and ruthlessness dealing with criminals, especially Castor Troy . He gets better with time. Date Rape Averted : Castor beats up an abusive boyfriend who attempts to rape Jamie.

Deadly Euphemism : "And stay away from downtown on the 18th. It's gonna be a little, uh, [grins] smoggy." Death by Secret Identity : Invoked by Castor by admitting to Archer's boss Victor Lazarro about his true identity before triggering his heart attack. Completely averted for Sasha as she dies without realizing that it's Archer she's saying her last words to, not Castor. Defrosting Ice Queen : It appears that Archer was probably a pretty nice guy to work with originally based on his behavior in the opening flashback. Six years later, the death of his son has Archer acting like a jerk towards his fellow agents, and somewhat estranged from his own wife and daughter due to his personal obsession over stopping Castor Troy. Then he finds himself wearing Castor's face, and Castor ends up with Archer's face. Wearing Castor's face allows Archer to begin to realize just how severely his obsession with hunting Castor affects those around him, especially when one of the consequences is Castor receiving Archer's face. Died in Your Arms Tonight : Archer's son dies on the carousel when Castor's bullet passes through Archer's body and hits him in the head.

Archer subsequently cradles his dead body. Dietrich is shot in the neck by Castor while taking a bullet intended for Sasha, and Archer grabs him as he collapses. When the Mexican standoff in the church is broken, both of Castor's enforcers are dead, and Sasha is lying mortally wounded on top of Archer. She manages to tell Archer to raise Adam for her before she takes her last breath. As scripted, Pollux's death was originally this, as the script has Castor grab him, apparently trying to invoke this trope. The computer file on Archer's son even references the trope: Carousel Sniper Victim Murdered 9 September 1991 Damage Report: The boy died in the arms of his father, FBI Agent Sean Archer, on the carousel in Griffith Park. Castor Troy had intended to kill Sean Archer but the bullet traveled through him and struck Michael in the chest.

Dirty Cop : Upon taking over Archer's FBI post, Castor Troy abuses his new job with impunity, getting Pollux released from prison by having him "confess" the location of their big bomb so that Castor can "locate" it and play hero, while using Archer's men as assassins to get rid of his associates, and stealthily take Archer's place in his family. Disposable Pilot : The "who's gonna fly the plane?" thingy is subverted by Castor Troy. When Archer shoots two of the plane's engines, they short out and set off the engine fire alarm. Castor promptly executes the pilot with a bullet....but it turns out he can't get the plane up in the air either as Archer had previously damaged the wingflaps with the skids on the police helicopter, so Castor instead frantically diverts the plane off the runway...and into a hangar. Dissimile : "It's like looking in a mirror, only not." Double Meaning Title : There's a faceoff in the sense of a showdown, and the surgery that takes each character's face... off.

Driven to Suicide : Castor attempts this after Archer kills Pollux, but Loomis walks in on him as he's about to shoot himself. Seeing "Archer" upset, he asks Castor what he's doing. Castor instead snaps and promptly shoots him in the face. Jerkass Has a Point : While Archer is a little overboard criticizing the people for celebrating his original defeat of Castor Troy, he is right to point out the names of the people that were killed in the shootout are more deserving of the toast than him. Likewise, one sees that Archer clearly has some points about being reluctant to undergo a surgery giving him Castor's face. His point being that there are a number of ways in which such an undercover operation could be bungled, like Castor coming out of his coma. Joggers Find Death : If you freeze-frame when Archer logs onto his computer, you'll see that the first thing that comes up is a summary report on one of Castor Troy's earlier crimes.

The details as gleaned from the file note that Castor hijacked a wealthy Swiss banker's private jet for $5 million in funds, tortured said banker by amputating both of his arms, before shooting him in the face with his own gun and tossing his remains out of the plane, where the body was found by a jogger in a local park. Juxtaposed Halves Shot : The posters/covers juxtapose three quarters of both Nicolas Cage's and John Travolta's faces using shadows to split them down the middle, highlighting that both actors play Sean Archer and both play Castor Troy, also averts Misplaced-Names Poster. Large Ham : Nicolas Cage and John Travolta spend the movie trying to top each other as both Castor and Archer. Both succeed. Leitmotif : Archer's whole family has one. Letting the Air Out of the Band : When the plane starts careening towards the hangar, Castor shuts down the throttles and the music slows down until the aircraft crashes through the windows. Lemon Wacky Hello : You can tell that Archer's obviously not used to the drugs he has to take to maintain his impersonation of Castor...

Sean Archer-as-Castor: I want to take his face...off ! Dietrich: [copying the gesture] The face.....off. [Archer collapses on a bed] No more drugs for that man. Oh Crap! : Archer, wearing Castor's face, is told he has a visitor at the prison. He is in the visitor's room, the door opens, and he comes face-to-face with....Castor Troy, wearing Archer's old face. To drive the point home, we have Archer just staring straight on for about 30 seconds, thinking " What? " as Castor smirks, then cockily strides towards Archer, and breaks into a grin: Castor Troy: OOOOOEEE, you're good lookin'! Ya hot! [He advances on Archer] It's like looking in a mirror, only not. [beat] Sean Archer: Troy? Castor Troy: Now that is between us , OK? Sean Archer: But you were—were, uh- Castor Troy: In a coma? Nothing like having your face cut off to disturb your sleep! Read the newspaper lately?

[flashes a newspaper article in the real Archer's face headlined "Deadly Inferno at Walsh Institute" with Dr. Walsh's picture] Sean Archer: You killed them? Castor Troy: Yeah well, beats paying the bill, huh? Come on, uh, if a face lift costs five grand...[shows Archer's wedding ring on his hand] see anything you like!!??? [cut to Tito bound, gagged, and being doused in gasoline] Sean Archer: Tito! [A hand flicks a cigarette lighter and drops it in a puddle of gasoline, sparking a fire that spreads towards the hostages] Castor Troy: I torched all the evidence that proves you're you, okay? So, wow! [looks at his watch] Looks like you're going to be in here for [in na-na voice] THE NEXT HUNDRED YEARS! [quietly] Now, I have got to go. I've got a government job to abuse and [whispers into Archer's ear] a lonely wife to fuck. Oh, I'm sorry...make love to! God, I miss that face!

The look on Castor and Archer's faces when they simultaneously realize the boat they are fighting on is about to violently crash. In the plane chase, Archer sees Castor march his undercover agent into the cabin and cock the pistol he has trained to the back of her head, leading to a genuine moment of shock as he yells, "He's got Winters, goddamnit!" Then Archer swings around the plane and begins to pull up alongside the wing, when the cabin door opens and Castor pushes Winters out in front of him. Castor Troy: One of yours, Sean?! [beat. Castor shoots her in the back] Sean Archer: Shit! Out-of-Character Alert : There are a couple of occasions where Archer or Castor, impersonating the other, comes very close to slipping their identity away. Castor comes dangerously close to giving himself away as an imposter on at least three occasions: When he meets Jamie for the first time, he mistakenly calls her "Janie" (and one will notice that he refers to her by that name in the hangar standoff).

She is understandably not pleased to find that Castor has "forgotten" her name, and Castor hastily looks at a bed pillow with Jamie's name on it before replying, "I don't think you heard me, Jamie. You got something that I crave." Castor also smokes, while Archer doesn't. Jamie Archer: Clarissa left those here. Castor Troy: Oh, well I won't tell mom if you don't. [He lights a cigarette] Jamie Archer: When did you start smoking? Castor Troy: You'll be seeing a lot of changes around here. [blows smoke rings in Jamie's face] Papa's got a brand new bag! OW! [Jamie laughs. Castor slowly walks out of the room singing along to the music] Castor uses Archer's job to cut a "deal" with Pollux to get him out of prison. The real Archer is shown to be a tough cop who never cuts any plea bargains with suspects, and certainly not with people like Pollux. Lazarro is quick to call Castor out on this.

Castor narrowly dodges a bullet by replying, "Well, when all else fails, fresh tactics!" Castor sees Pollux die in front of him, and understandably he breaks down in tears. Then Loomis sees him and says, "Sir why are you so upset? It's just Pollux Troy." Castor gets away by shooting Loomis in the face . Throughout all this, one would think Castor's offbeat sense of humor and behavior especially around Eve would tip off that something was fishy about him. Archer nearly gives away he's just impersonating Castor on a couple of occasions: This starts as early as the moment he is dumped in jail and he recognizes an inmate who tries to talk to him: Burke Hicks: What's the matter, pal? Dontcha remember the little people? [Archer turns to Hicks] Sean Archer: Burke Hicks. Burke Hicks: Yes. Sean Archer: I bust——-I believe Sean Archer busted you for stalking the UN Secretary General. Burke Hicks: Oh, no, Archer framed me! I had nothing to do with that. Word was you got wasted.

When speaking with Pollux, one notices that Archer is rather hesitant and a bit quieter when talking, probably because he knows he has to be extra careful not to say something that could blow his cover. Archer is not used to the drugs that Castor normally takes, so when he takes drug-laced water at Dietrich's place he has a panic attack as his body starts rejecting them. Papa Wolf : Ironically, Castor and Archer play this on each other's child. Castor beats up the boyfriend trying to rape Jamie in his car in Castor's driveway. Meanwhile Archer finds out that Castor has a son and Sasha is trying her best to raise Adam to avoid a criminal-free lifestyle also counts. Archer subsequently spends the shootout with Castor's SWAT team trying to protect Adam while also trying to keep his own agents safe and taking on Castor. Pet the Dog : The movie does emphasize after the face switches that even though Castor Troy may be a sociopath and murderer, he is a human being capable of all kinds of emotion, just like Archer.

This is best seen when Castor breaks down crying after seeing Pollux die, contemplate suicide, only to be stopped when he must shoot Loomis after Loomis catches him acting out-of-character, and then tie Pollux's untied shoelaces for the last time. Also seen when Castor stops Jamie from being raped by her boyfriend in the driveway of Archer's house. He may be "helping" by giving a teenage girl a knife without any formal training and committing grievous bodily harm but it's still pretty heartwarming saying that an insane psychopath like Castor who does worse things like kill cops and plant big bombs is stopping this kind of thing. Porn Stache : Castor Troy sports a thick mustache in the opening flashback as he smokes a cigarette and sets his sights on the carousel horse Archer is riding on with his son. It's obviously a false clip-on being used as a disguise, given that Castor is clean-shaven whenever his police mugshot is shown. Prison Riot : Archer starts one in Erehwon to escape it after he finds out that Castor has taken over his life.

Psychotic Smirk : In order to stay in character, Archer does one while he is Castor and while he's drunk shown in this scene . Castor himself is fond of using these while posing as Archer. Pun-Based Title : The title refers both to the fact that Archer and Castor's faces are removed and switched, and that they are moving towards an eventual face off against each other. Punny Name : Castor and Pollux Troy. In Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were twin brothers of Helen of Troy. Additionally, they form the Gemini constellation, which is on the opposite side of the night sky from Sagittarius the Archer. Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil : Subverted. Castor Troy beats up Jamie's boyfriend when the guy tries to rape the girl in his own driveway, apparently because the attempt disgusts even him. However, the rest of the film strives to portray him as a Hypocrite . Earlier in the film he gropes a blonde choir girl to "Hallelujah", and insinuates a rape threat on Jamie to Archer's face during hangar standoff ("Say, how is your daughter, anyway? Your... your darling Jamie, your little peach? Is she ripe?

Ri-ripe-ripe-ri RIPE!!"). Later on he also licks Jamie's face while holding a pistol to her head to taunt Archer (while Jamie thinks he's her father because he's wearing Archer's face, no less). At one point during the prison escape, Archer hides behind boxes with the word " Ingen " on them. "Ingen" also means "no one" in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The boots that the prisoners wear look like the boots worn by the Goombas in Super Mario Bros. . Archer defeats Castor Troy by impaling him with a spear gun . Signature Style : It's a John Woo movie. Therefore, the question is not a matter of asking, "Will the lead actors fire Guns Akimbo while flying through the air?" but "When will the lead actors fire Guns Akimbo while flying through the air?" This is answered within the first fifteen minutes, as Castor and Archer do fire twin pistols at each other during the hangar shootout. Archer-as-Castor makes one ◊ HELL of a Slasher Smile after taking drugs while seeking refuge at Dietrich's apartment and having a panic attack upon seeing his own reflection in the mirror.

The look on Castor Troy's face when he herds Agent Winters into the cockpit of his plane with a pistol to the back of her head for Archer to see that reads "Nice try sending me an undercover agent as my flight attendant, Sean!" He also has a pretty unsettling one when he's cutting his forehead and cheeks with a piece of shrapnel before Archer is able to impale him with the harpoon gun. Soft Water : Archer jumps from the helipad of the oil rig into the sea, to no ill effect. Something Only They Would Say : Archer has failed in all prior attempts to convince his wife that he really is Archer, given that he is fully aware he has Castor Troy's husky voice and the real Castor has taken Archer's voice. Until Archer reminisces over their first date, at which point she knows it's really him because that's a story they share. Soundtrack Dissonance : "Somewhere over the Rainbow" plays over a gunfight. Bonus points: It's the version sung by Olivia Newton-John, who starred opposite Travolta once upon a time.

Corresponds with Diegetic Switch , as the song is playing over Adam's headphones while he's being carried to safety during the apartment gunfight. An interesting example, actually, as the movie intends you hear the sound from Adam's perspective, with the music playing much louder than the muffled shouts and gunshots. Stock Scream : One of the guards gives a Wilhelm Scream during the jailbreak. Stuff Blowing Up : The boat chase at the end. The rule of thumb here is: If a boat comes into the frame, it will blow up during the next 15 seconds. Tear Off Your Face : Archer and Castor, for contrived reasons, end up surgically switching faces (and taking each others places). After Castor wakes up and before he receives Archer's face (offscreen), he is shown walking around without a face (just barely; it's limited to a couple of seconds of his face reflected in Dr. Walsh's glasses and a couple very quick direct shots when he's clapping after watching the videotape of the surgery; otherwise, we only see him from behind or his shadow on the side of a wall).

Third-Person Person : Archer-as-Castor, freshly arrived in the prison, recognizes another inmate he put away on a different case and has to refer to himself in the third person to narrowly avoid giving away his true identity. We Will Not Use Stage Makeup In The Future : The transplant procedure. Wet Blanket Wife : Eve Archer is one of those "you promised to quit after one last job" types of wives. What makes this example particularly strange is that not only does she seem to show no interest in helping Archer bring Castor Troy to justice, but Archer doesn't even try to explain to her that there's a nuclear bomb threatening to blow up their city (though one figures that Archer probably didn't want to scare her). The movie just sets up Archer as a workaholic cop with a distant marriage and expects it to fly. What Measure Is a Mook? : Frequent later on, when Archer becomes very friendly with the "villains" of the movie . Bonus points when it turns out Castor's biological son Adam is being raised by said "bad guys", as well as Castor having them all killed in a staged FBI bust so that he can get back at Archer.

With This Ring : Castor taunts Archer at the prison with his own wedding ring. Archer does not take it easily given that it indicates that Castor has killed Tito (and everyone else who know about the plan). Castor Troy: See anything you LIKE?! At the end, while in the ambulance, Archer quickly slips his ring off Castor's limp left hand. Worthy Opponent : Castor seems to have some weird level of respect for Archer. Wouldn't Hurt a Child : One thing that might be in Castor Troy's code of honor is to never intentionally target a young child, as he is ashamed to have killed Archer's son in the carousel sniping instead of Archer, and is unable to hide his remorse when he must go to Michael's grave with Eve. Would Hurt a Child : On the other hand, he's perfectly willing to aim a pistol at Sasha while his own child is in her arms. Heck, it's possible Castor might have been trying to hit Adam on purpose if he wasn't trying to off Sasha for talking to Archer ( Fridge Logic may apply, considering that Troy may have allowed himself to become more monstrous after his failed sniping attempt made him think he crossed the Moral Event Horizon ).

You Taste Delicious : After Jamie inadvertently shoots her own father in his shoulder in the church standoff when provoked by Castor, Castor grabs her, holds a pistol to her head, and in his gleeful way, says "Now let's see what's really in papa's bag: peaches!" and licks the side of her cheek, no doubt to taunt Archer. Given Castor has Archer's real face, this inexplicable sexual assault by the person whom she thinks at the moment is her father only further confuses and traumatizes her. But before Castor can then shoot her, Jamie stabs him in his right knee with the butterfly knife he gave her, just like he taught her . :: Indexes ::

Question: With which actor did John Travolta exchange faces in the movie Face Off?
Answer: Nicholas Cage