Face/Off (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

Was the acting in Face/Off always this bad? Luckily, the action still holds up 10 years later; but it's clear John Woo has made more bad American films than Steve Guttenberg. John Travolta and Nic Cage ham it up as themselves and each other in this high-concept action film where the two rivals switch faces. Whenever a scene calls for serious emotion, it's hilarious. For example, what's with Travolta's family running their hand over each other's face? If there was an award for the most annoying gesture, this would be the reigning champion forever. It also runs over two hours, much of which is taken up by said horrible drama. But the shoot-outs more than make up for it; and we'll always consider it one of the more memorable action films of the '90s. Paramount must feel the same way, because there's also a second disc with an hour-long making-of and half-hour Woo career retrospective. It's clear that Face/Off ain't no The Killer or Hard Boiled, but it isn't Hard Target, Broken Arrow, M:I-2, Windtalkers… You get the point.

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