Welcome to Day 2 of my Top 10 Favorite Movies list. Going from straightforward comedy to unintentional comedy, my ninth favorite movie at this moment in time is Face/Off. Directed by John Woo, with the lead roles being played by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, this is one strangest stories that I've ever seen in a film. Cage plays a man named Castor Troy, in a rare antagonistic role for him, and he's pit up against Sean Archer (John Travolta's character). The resulting storyline is so out-of-this-world crazy, yet, at the same time, also makes for one of the most intriguing movies I've ever witnessed. If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix. I recommend you watch it before you read this (if you haven't seen the movie), as I do go into heavy spoilers on it. It's time to take this movie's face...off.
The movie opens with Sean Archer spending time with his son in a carousel. Suddenly, Castor Troy walks onto the scene, sets up a sniper rifle, and shoots at Archer. Unfortunately, the bullet travels through Sean's shoulder and strikes his son in the face, killing him instantly. We then cut to six years later, where we see a broken Sean who is desperate to bring Castor down. This is a great setup, and it gives us some genuinely good acting from Travolta. That's the first point I want to make about this movie: The acting is very good, especially from the two leads. Travolta plays the broken family man very well, and Cage excels at the psychotic crazy man when we first get to know him. Although, saying that is pretty much counterintuative at this point, considering all the other "psychotic crazy man" performances Cage has given us over the years. That being said, he does it remarkably well here. Cage and Travolta were honestly the perfect choices to portray these characters. There's a rumor flying around that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were in talks to play the lead roles, but I'm glad that Travolta and Cage were chosen. It wouldn't have worked as well if Arnold and Sly were in the roles. We wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying.
Speaking of what they were saying, the dialogue in this movie is very good. Almost every line is well-written and feels like what should be naturally be said by these characters. It greatly helps add to the appeal of the actors. I say "almost", cause there are a few wonky lines here and there. Travolta's line about branding the Fourth Amendment on his butt was kinda weird. I didn't expect every line to hit and land, but it happens so rarely that it in now way breaks the movie. But the real reason why this is one of my favorite movies right now comes in to play about a fourth of the way in. Archer apprehends Castor and believes him to be dead, but there's still the issue of the bomb that Castor planted earlier in the movie. In order to get closer to the people that know about Castor's plan, Archer undergoes a surgery that switches his face with that of Castor's, essentially turning John Travolta into Nicolas Cage. And then, a few scenes later, the real Castor wakes up from a supposed coma and forces the same set of doctors to perform the same surgery on him, turning Nicolas Cage into John Travolta. Yeah, you read that right: Nicolas Cage acting as John Travolta trying to be Nicolas Cage, pit up against John Travolta acting as Nicolas Cage trying to be John Travolta. It's still Travolta and Cage, they just swap personalities for most of the movie. To make it less confusing going forward, I'm gonna call them "Cage!Archer" and "Travolta!Castor" until they revert back to their original selves at the end. This is where the movie really starts to get good. The acting from the two leads actually gets better at this point. Travolta and Cage channel each other perfectly. The best scene is when Travolta!Castor goes to a maximum security prison island in order to get closer to Castor's brother. After he discovers the location of the bomb, a prison fight breaks out. In the middle of Travolta!Castor stomping fools into the ground, we see two important things: Nicolas Cage doing an impression of John Travolta doing an impression of a Nicolas Cage freakout, which is one of the weirdest sentences I've ever written. We also get a brief moment in the carnage where Travolta!Castor breaks the freakish laughter facade by crying for a few seconds. That was an awesome moment, and it proves that Cage can be a good actor.
The face swap scene also leads to a couple plot holes that need to be addressed, though. After the surgery happens, Travolta!Castor notices that he still sounds like Archer. Because of this, one of the doctors fashions him up a voice changer in order to fix that problem. That's a very nice addition. They could've easily just skipped over it, but they addressed and solved the problem. Very good attention to detail. The problem with this arises when Travolta!Castor is informed that too much pressure could dislodge it and revert his voice back to the way it was before the surgery. Why is that a problem? Because Travolta!Castor takes a bunch of huge beatings over the course of the movie, all of which could have damaged the voice modulator. I'd even go as far to say that a few of the punches should have completely removed Travolta!Castor's face. Also, the way Travolta!Castor manages to escape from the prison boat raises a few questions. Firstly, we see a man named Dubov have his brain electrocuted roughly two minutes before the escape starts. Then, Travolta!Castor manages to, somehow, talk Dubov out of his vegetative state so they can take down the guards together. You read that right. The man had his skull deep fried, but he can be nursed back to health with a specific string of words? Is that possible? I honestly don't know. Another impossibility is the fact that a wounded and exhausted Travolta!Castor somehow manages to swim the distance from the prison island to the shore, which we see in a wide shot has to be multiple miles.
Plot holes aside, however, the surgery scene is awesome. It's handled with realism, it's intense, it leads to some very gnarly "no face" effects when Actual Castor wakes up in a later scene, and, for the most part, every single element of body-swapping is addressed and dealt with. Differing facial structures, differing blood types, differing voices, even the difference in hairstyles is fixed. All of it is brought up and dealt with, and then we moved on to the next phase of the procedure. And the effects are great. The doctor fiddling with Cage's face as he sets it into position on Travolta's body looked insanely real. The only thing that would've made the scene feel more real is if the issue of the veins and nerves that are attatched to their faces was brought up, along with the fact that the two actors probably have different heights and weights. That probably should've been mentioned, but it's okay. We still would've gotten an awesome scene nonetheless. I can suspend my disbelief like the best of them, regardless. Another thing I love about this movie is the way John Woo directed it. You might know of John Woo from such films as Mission: Impossible II, Broken Arrow, and a bunch of Chinese action movies. He has a specific style that's present in a bunch of his films: Awesome slow-mo shots to rival the likes of Zack Snyder and doves. Lots and lots of doves. We get both of these things in this movie. We get an awesome shot of a boat using another boat as a ramp (which naturally explodes) in the third act. We see the explosion in slow-mo and from multiple angles, which is another thing you'll notice a lot of in this movie. Also, towards the end of the final Cage!Archer vs Travolta!Castor battle, a boat they're battling on crashes into what appear to be stakes in the water, causing the two fighters to fly through the air in another multiple angle slow-mo shot. Yes, you can clearly see that the two actors are not Travolta and Cage in a couple of the shots, but it doesn't matter cause of how cool it is. And, yes, the boat explodes when it hits the water. What else would it do? There's a lot of boat explosions in this scene for some reason. Not complaining, though.
This movie has some great action scenes, too. There's multiple shootout scenes, one of which leads up to my favorite shot of the whole movie: When Cage!Archer and Travolta!Castor spin in front of mirrors and point a gun at their own reflections. This type of movie is the only one in which a scene like that could work and be awesome. I don't know if other people like this shot, but I love it. I also greatly enjoyed the shootout that was set to Olivia Newton-John's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" cover. The shootout at the church was great, and is also a good scene for John Travolta to ham it up. The prison brawl was awesome, too. I loved how brutal it felt, and all the raw energy it built up. Also, the fact that Cage!Archer and Travolta!Castor are better husbands/fathers than Actual!Archer and Actual!Castor is an interesting detail. Cage!Archer teaches his daughter self-defense, treats his wife to footrubs and candlelit dinners, thrashes his daughter's boyfriend after an attempted rape scene, and ultimately seems like a much cooler guy than Actual!Archer. Travolta!Castor defends his son during a shootout, treats his wife like an actual human being, is nicer to his friends, and, again, seems like a cooler guy. Honestly, I liked these characters best when they had the other one's personality. Yeah, it's true that Cage!Archer would probably kill me very quickly after meeting me, but I'd still like to be friends with him. I'm also a big fan of Travolta, so I'd be happy to roast him about how scary he was in Hairspray.
Face/Off is an interesting beast. One one hand, the plot makes no sense and arguably shouldn't work. On the other hand, it's one of the strangest, craziest, most unintentionally funniest movies ever made. And that is exactly the reason why it's one of my favorites. Nicolas Cage gives 110% with his performance. He's over the top in the best of ways. Seriously, just watch his introduction scene if you need an example. Cage groping a choir member's butt while "Hallelujah" blares in the background will never not be funny. Travolta's acting is very good, too. Both of the actors are at their best when they have to immitate each other. The action is great, the soundtrack is great, the effects are great, the screenplay is great. Face/Off is a very good movie, one of my favorites. Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I reveal my eighth favorite movie at this moment in time. I'll give you a hint: I mentioned in a previous movie review.
