FACE/OFF

Cole's Rating: B
Thatcher's Rating: B+

Year: 1997
Cast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R


  Wow! Did this movie blow my mind! Completely altering your physical appearance to take the place of another human being seems like it would almost be to unreal to believe. Almost. Left with no other options, this is what Sean Archer (John Travolta) has to do in order to discover the code to defuse the bomb set by Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage), that is planned to blow up the entire city of Los Angeles. Now, these two have a history. Castor had killed Archer’s son by accident, in attempt to kill Archer. This left Archer with a indescribable hatred towards Castor. This is the seemingly far-fetched, but highly entertaining plot line of Face/Off.
 
  I will not lie, when this movie began, for the small portion of time in the movie that each Travolta and Cage were playing their own characters, the acting was pitiful. I would not have been able to handle the entire movie of them in their own character because of how cheesy and poor the opening action scene and beginning acting was. Another major flaw I saw in the movie was a couple of the highly unrealistic action scenes, one taking place in the prison, but I will say no more (no spoilers). It added to the movie's dehumanization effects, and flipped that unrealistic switch on in our heads, if it hasn't been turned on already by the plot line.

  But, the movie picked up. As they traded roles and acted as they didn’t know how to act in each other’s place, the acting excelled. Anyone else sick of the word act? 

        Like I said, it's an entertaining movie. After 138 minutes, I found myself thinking, was that 138 minutes? And there were several complex scenes in which I had to think to myself, “Wait! That’s really him, but she thinks it’s him! And he’s doing that because it’s not really him?! Ah! Now I get it!”, this was a common, and amusing thought of mine in different circumstances offered in Face/Off, a movie I underestimated from the beginning, and a movie that I'm glad that I watched.

Written by Cole Pollyea