Face/Off [Blu-ray]: Amazon.ca: 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: DVD

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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

Amazon.com Essential Video

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

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Customer Reviews

274 Reviews

5 star:		(183)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(23)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (274 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars switched identies, Mar 5 2004

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Vagabond77 (Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face/Off (Widescreen) (DVD)

John Travolta and Nicolas Cage star in "Face/Off". FBI Special Agent John Archer (Travolta) has been chasing super terrorist Caster Troy (Cage). Eventually Cage is arrested but comatose, which is problimatic because there is a huge bomb somewhere in L.A. After exhasing all conventional methods, Archer decides to assume Troy's identity through an experimental surgury that allows one to wear the others face. Things go way wrong when Troy wakes up and takes over Archer's life. Ok, the plot is unbelievablely silly. But Travolta and Cage are very interesting and you can never take your eyes off them, even if it's hard to tell who's who. The supporting cat is amazing as well. Gina Gershon and Joan Allen are excellent as the woman in the men's life. They are both tough, resourseful, and smart (though both are these qualitys but in defferent ways). The action is first rate. John Woo was an expert in hyperactive actioneers in Hong Kong, now he finally gets to apply his style to a major American movie. The violence is grusome, but not to a slasher movie mentality. It's just an all around great movie.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Mainstream action doesn't get any better than this, Jan 29 2004

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N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Face/Off (Widescreen) (DVD)

Legendary Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled) helped craft a modern mainstream action classic in 1997 with Face/Off. Despite the film's absurd premise: FBI Agent John Travolta swaps faces and identities with psycho terrorist Nicolas Cage, that doesn't take away from the high impact drama and superb performances from Travolta and Cage. And did I mention the action scenes? Face/Off contains some of the best action sequences to ever be seen in film today, and this film is still the best Woo film to be made in America. Travolta and Cage perfectly imitate each other's traits while caught in Woo's balet of blood and bullets. The only flaw of Face/Off is the DVD itself. While the picture and sound quality are superb, there are no extras to be had other than the film's trailer. Hopefully someday Paramount will have the good sense to re-release the film packed with extras. Mainstream action rarely gets better than this.

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5.0 out of 5 stars face off, July 17 2004

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joey (new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Face/Off (Widescreen) (DVD)

he best movie in the ear 1997 it is perfect action good and adventure good nice acting for john travolta and nice acting for nicolas cage

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