In order to discover the location of a biological time bomb hidden somewhere in downtown L.A., FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) agrees to undergo an experimental procedure that replaces his face with that of Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), the terrorist who murdered Archer’s son. Archer is able to dupe the information out of Castor’s brother Pollux (Alessandro Nivola), but not before the shock of the surgery brings Castor out of his medically-induced coma.

Castor then forces the surgical team to graft Archer’s face onto his body, enabling him to assume both Archer’s professional and personal lives. The real Archer eventually escapes from the prison he has infiltrated, after which he insinuates himself into Castor’s criminal network, setting the stage for a massive showdown between the men.

CRITIQUE

Face/Off is undoubtedly one of the damned goofiest movies of all time, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun. The only way to pull this material off is to make it as over-the-top as possible, which is exactly what director John Woo does here. The movie never quite reaches the same pulp opera heights as the best of Woo’s Hong Kong efforts, but it comes a lot closer than any of the director’s other American movies. (Then again, this is the only good movie Woo’s made since he left his homeland.)

Cage and Travolta obviously had a massive amount of fun here. For much of the movie they’re called on to pretend to be each other, which often becomes a game of one-upmanship; they tend to take each other’s more recognizable traits and play them to the hilt (Travolta as Cage goes for broke with the manic and eccentric, while Cage as Travolta becomes even more withdrawn).

It’s a testament to the strengths of both performances that it’s easy to forget about the whole face-switching nonsense and just watch a couple of capable actors earn their pay. (It’s odd when you consider Woo couldn’t get a good performance out of Travolta in Broken Arrow or Cage in Windtalkers yet managed to get good performances out of each in the same movie.)

The action scenes are staged with Woo’s typically assured hand. The airport opening is fantastic, the mid-movie shootout is equally impressive, and the climactic boat chase serves as a whopper of a finale. But at the same time it’s easy to see how Woo let himself get carried away, stretching each sequence out unnecessarily. Woo has long been known for covering the action from virtually every conceivable viewpoint, with the final edit of most scenes presenting many shots from a multitude of angles.

Watching this movie for the (insert ludicrously large number here) time, I really started to think it could have been improved considerably had Woo been a little ruthless in the editing, carving out many of the redundant shots. As much fun as the mayhem created by the crashing planes, showers of sparks, shattering glass, and speedboats is (to say nothing of the hilarity generated by Thomas Jane’s bad perm and even worse accent), this would be an even better film were it a few pounds leaner.

THE VIDEO

The old standard def disc looked very good for its time, but as of late it’s started to show its age. I imagine it will be a long time before anyone finds reason to complain about this release’s 2.35:1/1080p transfer. The digital noise and source element damage that marred the old version are nowhere to be found in this new master; the glaring edge enhancement isn’t entirely gone, but it has been reined in to a great degree.

The level of detail is superb; the picture is consistently sharp and deep, retaining a smooth film-like quality from beginning to end. Black levels are very strong; colors are vivid throughout. Paramount’s work on next-gen catalogue titles has been uneven, but this is easily one of their strongest efforts to date.

THE AUDIO

The sound design is as over the top as the movie itself. The two primary audio options here are DTS 6.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 EX tracks, and you won’t go wrong whichever one you choose, although I’d say the DTS has the edge. The expected sonic mayhem is impeccably mixed, with gunshots and explosions roaring across the entire soundstage. The low end booms throughout, both in the effects (you’re going to feel it when that plane hits that hangar) and in the synth pulses that fill John Powell’s score.

Despite all of the action, dialogue remains clear and intelligible. Some may be rankled by the absence of a lossless track, but it’s likely they won’t care past the five-minute mark. French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included. English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

The extras kick off with a commentary by director John Woo and writers Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. Woo handles the technical side while Werb and Colleary discuss the story and characters.  

There’s also a separate commentary by Werb and Colleary, which is largely redundant.

Next up are seven deleted scenes (9 minutes). Six of these are redundant and/or extraneous; the seventh is a misguided alternate ending. Woo provides optional commentary for these bits.

The Light and the Dark: Making Face/Off (65 minutes) is a pretty good making-of doc. It covers the movie from the initial concept (which played up the sci-fi elements more) on through release and reception, with looks at the casting and effects along the way. If you don’t want to sit through all of it at once, it’s also viewable as a series of five featurettes.

John Woo: A Life in Pictures (26 minutes) is a history of the director’s career presented as a photo montage and narrated by Woo himself.

Closing out the extras is the movie’s theatrical trailer.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Face/Off provides pretty much everything you’d want from a big, loud action flick (maybe even a bit too much of it). The presentation here is close to perfect, even if the extras are a bit thin.