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It's a sad, old, familiar tale; a foreign director starts their career off strong by taking advantage of the creative freedom afforded to them in their home country, but, whether it's a combination of a language barrier, culture clash over artistic sensibilities, or (most often) the interference of a meddling, overbearing studio system, when they come "across the pond" to try hacking it in Hollywood, the cinematic magic that they used to wield at will just seems like it's been denied entry at the border. And, even though he was already one of the most influential Action directors of all time based solely on the strength of his work in Hong Kong, John Woo ultimately proved to be no exception to that rule, as his immense talent was mostly wasted on forgettable Hollywood dreck in the 90's & 2000's, resulting in a string of Action-ers that were either so bland that it's almost impossible to believe that Woo had anything to do with them (Broken Arrow, anyone?), or resorted to self-plagiarization so blatant that they devolved into unintentional self-parody (doves AGAIN, Mission: Impossible II?). However, there was at least one worthwhile film produced by the director's Hollywood era, one that served as the world's biggest exposure to the blood-soaked glory that is "the full Woo", and proved that the director could've done so much better in the States if Hollywood had just let him be himself. That film in question? 1997's Face/Off, baby!

It tells the story of Sean Archer (John Travolta), an FBI Agent whose obsessive, years-long manhunt for "freelance" terrorist Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) isn't merely born out of a sense of occupational duty, but out of an incredibly personal reason, due to Troy's murder of Archer's son in a botched assassination attempt six years ago. And, after an insane airport shootout, Archer seemingly manages to kill Troy (in the most over-the-top fashion as possible, of course), finally obtaining his long awaited vengeance. However, what little relief Archer might have felt is immediately dashed upon learning that Troy is not only still alive (albeit in a coma), but has also left behind a time bomb ticking away somewhere in Los Angeles, one big enough to wipe out the city of angels completely off the map. And so, with a tight time table and no other reasonable options, Archer must resort to an unreasonable one, by undergoing a state-of-the-art medical procedure that takes his face… off, and replaces it with Troy's, so he can go the deepest of undercover with his former "coworkers" to get the intel he needs, a development that gives the film's title an unexpectedly literal turn.

Of course, this fails to go to plan when Troy wakes up and engages in a bit of turnabout-is-fair-play-ism, escaping with Archer's face upon his own, resulting in the film's central premise/gimmick; John Travolta acting like Nicholas Cage, and vice versa, as the two leading men face off with their faces off, in a series of wild, escalating shootouts, chewing just as much scenery as the bullets destroy in the process. All of that being said, though, it is a gimmick that adds a lot to Face/Off, as the actors go all-out in getting into each other's characters (so to speak), with Travolta throwing out the relatively sleepy, subdued acting style that's often characterized his later career in favor of the kind of manic, coked-up energy of, well, Nicholas Cage, while Cage himself goes back and forth between letting the glum, straight-arrow Archer underneath shine through, while also indulging in the occasional freak-out that the actor's patented so well over the years, with the identity crisis he suffers through being caught between the two different personas rendering his arc surprisingly compelling, despite the ridiculous premise, with a lot of the acting riding that thin line between intentional and unintentional comedy so finely that it's often impossible to tell which it is, but it's so damn entertaining nonetheless, you end up not caring either way.

And as far as the film's style goes, Woo finds a balance between referencing his Hong Kong works with certain nods (did anyone say, "church shootout"?), while still finding ways to refresh it by retaining the (extremely) soft Sci-Fi elements of Mike Werb & Colleary's original script, evening out his own sensibilities with those of his collaborators in the process. However, with the additional creative freedom that Paramount afforded Woo on this project, the kind that he had never been blessed with in Hollywood before this point (or after), there's no denying that Face/Off is ultimately his baby, with the kind of gratuitous, beautifully violent slow-mo, gracefully acrobatic, dual-wielding gunplay he specialized back in HK, although pumped up with a Hollywood budget (hello, crashing jets!), along with the relationship-driven drama he specialized in, through the various character dynamics such as Archer's domestic troubles with his neglected wife and moody daughter, and even Castor gets a nice, personal moment here when he mourns the death of his on-the-spectrum brother by tying his shoelaces together for him, just like always (just after shooting a guy in the head for unintentionally downplaying the tragedy of it, that is). All in all, Face/Off ia a wonderfully entertaining, glouriously unhinged Sci-Fi/Action hybrid that fully submerges us into its particular (un)reality, and packs the craziest thrills and biggest emotional punches of any of Woo's American films, and so, keeping all of that in mind, are you ready? For the big ride this film offers, baby? Because I know I am.

It's a sad, old, familiar tale; a foreign director starts their career off strong by taking advantage of the creative freedom afforded to them in their home country, but, whether it's a combination of a language barrier, culture clash over artistic sensibilities, or (most often) the interference of a meddling, overbearing studio system, when they come "across the pond" to try hacking it in Hollywood, the cinematic magic that they used to wield at will just seems like it's been denied entry at the border. And, even though he was already one of the most influential Action directors of all time based solely on the strength of his work in Hong Kong, John Woo ultimately proved to be no exception to that rule, as his immense talent was mostly wasted on forgettable Hollywood dreck in the 90's & 2000's, resulting in a string of Action-ers that were either so bland that it's almost impossible to believe that Woo had anything to do with them (Broken Arrow, anyone?), or resorted to self-plagiarization so blatant that they devolved into unintentional self-parody (doves AGAIN, Mission: Impossible II?). However, there was at least one worthwhile film produced by the director's Hollywood era, one that served as the world's biggest exposure to the blood-soaked glory that is "the full Woo", and proved that the director could've done so much better in the States if Hollywood had just let him be himself. That film in question? 1997's Face/Off, baby!

It tells the story of Sean Archer (John Travolta), an FBI Agent whose obsessive, years-long manhunt for "freelance" terrorist Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) isn't merely born out of a sense of occupational duty, but out of an incredibly personal reason, due to Troy's murder of Archer's son in a botched assassination attempt six years ago. And, after an insane airport shootout, Archer seemingly manages to kill Troy (in the most over-the-top fashion as possible, of course), finally obtaining his long awaited vengeance. However, what little relief Archer might have felt is immediately dashed upon learning that Troy is not only still alive (albeit in a coma), but has also left behind a time bomb ticking away somewhere in Los Angeles, one big enough to wipe out the city of angels completely off the map. And so, with a tight time table and no other reasonable options, Archer must resort to an unreasonable one, by undergoing a state-of-the-art medical procedure that takes his face… off, and replaces it with Troy's, so he can go the deepest of undercover with his former "coworkers" to get the intel he needs, a development that gives the film's title an unexpectedly literal turn.

Of course, this fails to go to plan when Troy wakes up and engages in a bit of turnabout-is-fair-play-ism, escaping with Archer's face upon his own, resulting in the film's central premise/gimmick; John Travolta acting like Nicholas Cage, and vice versa, as the two leading men face off with their faces off, in a series of wild, escalating shootouts, chewing just as much scenery as the bullets destroy in the process. All of that being said, though, it is a gimmick that adds a lot to Face/Off, as the actors go all-out in getting into each other's characters (so to speak), with Travolta throwing out the relatively sleepy, subdued acting style that's often characterized his later career in favor of the kind of manic, coked-up energy of, well, Nicholas Cage, while Cage himself goes back and forth between letting the glum, straight-arrow Archer underneath shine through, while also indulging in the occasional freak-out that the actor's patented so well over the years, with the identity crisis he suffers through being caught between the two different personas rendering his arc surprisingly compelling, despite the ridiculous premise, with a lot of the acting riding that thin line between intentional and unintentional comedy so finely that it's often impossible to tell which it is, but it's so damn entertaining nonetheless, you end up not caring either way.

And as far as the film's style goes, Woo finds a balance between referencing his Hong Kong works with certain nods (did anyone say, "church shootout"?), while still finding ways to refresh it by retaining the (extremely) soft Sci-Fi elements of Mike Werb & Colleary's original script, evening out his own sensibilities with those of his collaborators in the process. However, with the additional creative freedom that Paramount afforded Woo on this project, the kind that he had never been blessed with in Hollywood before this point (or after), there's no denying that Face/Off is ultimately his baby, with the kind of gratuitous, beautifully violent slow-mo, gracefully acrobatic, dual-wielding gunplay he specialized back in HK, although pumped up with a Hollywood budget (hello, crashing jets!), along with the relationship-driven drama he specialized in, through the various character dynamics such as Archer's domestic troubles with his neglected wife and moody daughter, and even Castor gets a nice, personal moment here when he mourns the death of his on-the-spectrum brother by tying his shoelaces together for him, just like always (just after shooting a guy in the head for unintentionally downplaying the tragedy of it, that is). All in all, Face/Off ia a wonderfully entertaining, glouriously unhinged Sci-Fi/Action hybrid that fully submerges us into its particular (un)reality, and packs the craziest thrills and biggest emotional punches of any of Woo's American films, and so, keeping all of that in mind, are you ready? For the big ride this film offers, baby? Because I know I am.