Face/Off

For other uses, see Face Off (disambiguation).

Face/Off
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Woo
Produced by	David Permut Barrie M. Osborne Christopher Godsick Terence Chang
Written by	Mike Werb Michael Colleary
Starring	John Travolta Nicolas Cage
Music by	John Powell
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Christian Wagner
Studio	Paramount Pictures Touchstone Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (North America) Buena Vista International (International)
Release date(s)	June 27, 1997 (1997-06-27)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$245,676,146

Face/Off is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by John Woo, starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. The two both play an FBI agent and a terrorist, sworn enemies who assume the physical appearance of one another. The film exemplifies Woo's signature gun fu and heroic bloodshed action sequences, and has Travolta and Cage each playing two personalities. It was the first Hollywood film in which Woo was given complete creative control and was acclaimed by both audiences and critics. Eventually grossing $245 million worldwide, Face/Off was a financial success.

Plot

FBI Special Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) has a personal vendetta against civil freelance terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) after Castor killed Archer's son Michael while trying to assassinate Archer. Archer learns of Castor's brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola), making arrangements for a private jet, and sets a trap to capture both Castor and Pollux. During the operation, Castor gloats about a bomb he has planted somewhere in Los Angeles, but he is knocked into a coma during the firefight. Though Castor and Pollux are captured, and the plans for the bomb found in Pollux's suitcase, Archer has no clue to its location. He agrees to undergo an experimental face transplant surgery, giving him the appearance of Castor; this process is only known to his immediate supervisors and Dr. Walsh who performs the surgery. Archer is taken to an offshore high security prison, Erewhon Prison, and meets with Pollux, eventually gaining his confidence to learn the bomb's location.

During this, Castor wakes from his coma and discovers the face transplant and Archer's plan. He contacts his agents who force Dr. Walsh to give him Archer's face, and then kill him and Archer's superiors. Just as Archer contacts the police to pass along the information, Castor arrives at the prison and taunts Archer, revealing he will now take over his life, including Archer's wife Eve (Joan Allen) and teenage daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain). Castor frees Pollux and "locates" his bomb and deactivates it, earning praise from the FBI. His offbeat personality earns Castor respect, whereas Archer was more prone to ruining celebrations with reminders of the loss of life involved. Simultaneously, Archer escapes from Erewhon during a riot, during which all guards are slaughtered and the prison is completely destroyed, and soon locates Castor's old hideout. There, he meets several of Castor's gang, including Castor's ex-girlfriend Sasha Hassler (Gina Gershon) and Castor's and her son, Adam, who resembles Michael at that age. Though initially believing that Adam should be sent to child protective services, Archer finds Sasha to be a caring mother trying to raise her son all alone in rough conditions and feels bad for threatening her earlier. Meanwhile after rescuing Jamie from being raped, Castor reaches out to her and learns that she hasn't forgiven Archer for failing to prevent the death of her younger brother, Michael.

When Castor (as Archer) learns of the prison break, he suspects that Archer will connect with his gang, and leads an FBI raid of his headquarters. During the battle, many of Castor's gang are killed, while Archer kills Pollux, infuriating Castor. Castor is berated by FBI Director in Charge, Victor Lazarro, but in his anger, Castor kills him, feigning that Lazarro suffered a heart attack. Castor is promoted to acting Director in Charge, making him virtually untouchable. Meanwhile, Archer returns to his home and convinces Eve, a doctor herself, that he is Archer, which she later confirms via a blood sample she takes from Castor who is sleeping next to her. She helps tend to his wounds, and explains that Castor will be at Lazarro's funeral the next day in a local church.

Archer waits to confront Castor after the funeral, but finds that Castor has taken Eve hostage. A gunfight ensues between Castor, Archer and Castor's gang, under Archer's orders. Sasha helps rescue Eve, but takes a bullet in protecting Archer; he promises to look after Adam as she dies. Castor attempts to take Jamie hostage, but she retaliates by using a butterfly knife that Castor had taught her how to use. Castor tries to escape using a nearby speedboat, followed closely by Archer. The two boats crash ashore, and the two men turn to melee. Castor, finding himself being overpowered, attempts to damage his face as to make it unusable by Archer, but Archer kills him using a spear gun. As the FBI arrive, Eve is able to explain Archer's true identity. The face transplant surgery reversed, Archer returns to his family, helping to welcome Adam into his family, fulfilling his promise to Sasha.

Cast

• John Travolta as Sean Archer/Castor Troy
• Nicolas Cage as Castor Troy/Sean Archer
• Joan Allen as Dr. Eve Archer
• Alessandro Nivola as Pollux Troy
• Gina Gershon as Sasha Hassler
• Dominique Swain as Jamie Archer
• Myles Jeffrey as Michael Archer
• Nick Cassavetes as Dietrich Hassler
• Harve Presnell as Victor Lazarro
• Colm Feore as Dr. Malcolm Walsh
• C. C. H. Pounder as Dr. Hollis Miller
• John Carroll Lynch as Walton
• Robert Wisdom as Tito
• Thomas Jane as Burke Hicks
• James Denton as Buzz
• Margaret Cho as Wanda
• Matt Ross as Loomis
• Chris Bauer as Dubov
• Danny Masterson as Karl
• Tommy Flanagan as Leo
• Steve Hytner as Interrogating agent
• Romy Walthall as Kimberly
• Paul Hipp as Fitch
• Kirk Baltz as Aldo
• Max Bemis of Say Anything as Altar Boy

Production

Face/Off was a spec script which writers Mike Werb and Michael Colleary tried to sell to a studio from as early as 1990. It took numerous studios, producers and rewrites before John Woo became attached several years later. For the Archer character, John Woo considered casting either Michael Douglas or Jean-Claude Van Damme whom he had worked with in Hard Target. When the film was eventually made, Douglas served as an executive producer. Werb and Colleary have cited White Heat (1949) and Seconds (1966) as influences on the plot.

When John Woo was initially offered the chance to direct, he declined unless the studio agreed to give him more creative control than he had received on his previous American films. Travolta had previously starred in Woo's Broken Arrow (Cage was later to star in another Woo film, Windtalkers). Woo set the movie in the present so he could focus on the psychological elements of the story, such as how the feud between the two men affects those close to them — such as Sasha and Adam and Archer's family.

The names Castor and Pollux come from a pair of brothers in Greek mythology that make up the Gemini constellation. The story itself, most notably the hatred between Archer and Troy, is very similar to that of Hector and Achilles, who fought against each other in the Trojan War. Additional influences may have come from the fact that the Greek and Roman god of archery, Apollo, was closely related with the city of Troy. The Archer is also the symbol of the Sagittarius constellation, symbolizing the clash between the opposing Sagittarius and Gemini constellations.

Pollux is held at Erehwon, a prison so secret that even the inmates do not know its location. "Erehwon" is "nowhere" in reverse, an idea that also occurs in an allegorical novel by Samuel Butler.

The battle in the church, which includes doves flying around, is similar to the final confrontation in Woo's classic 1989 Hong Kong film The Killer.

Costing $80 million to make, Face/Off made heavy use of action set pieces including several violent shootouts and a boat chase while being filmed in the Los Angeles area. The boat scene at the end of the film was shot in San Diego.

Filming Locations

Henman House, 33583 Mulholland Hwy, Malibu, CA (exterior of Walsh Institute)

Release

Face/Off was released in North America on June 27, 1997 and earned $23 million on its opening weekend. It went on to become the 11th highest domestic and 14th worldwide grossing film of 1997, earning a domestic total of $112,276,146 and $133,400,000 overseas for a total of worldwide gross of $245,676,146. It was a successful box office hit.

The Region 1 DVD of Face/Off was one of the first films to be released on the format on October 7, 1998. A 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition was released on DVD September 11, 2007 and HD DVD October 30, 2007 in the United States. The new DVD is a 2-disc set including 7 deleted scenes, an alternate ending and several featurettes.

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2007 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and was released in the United States on 20 May 2008 by Paramount Home Entertainment.

Reception

Face/Off received mostly positive reviews from critics and garnered high box office earnings, making it a critical and financial success. The role reversal between Travolta and Cage was a subject of praise, as were the stylized, violent action sequences. Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four and remarked that "Here, using big movie stars and asking them to play each other, Woo and his writers find a terrific counterpoint to the action scenes: All through the movie, you find yourself reinterpreting every scene as you realize the "other" character is "really" playing it." Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said of the film, "You may not buy the premise or the windup, but with Travolta and Cage taking comic and psychic measures of their characters and their own careers, there is no resisting Face/Off. This you gotta see." Richard Corliss of Time Magazine said that the film "isn't just a thrill ride, it's a rocket into the thrilling past, when directors could scare you with how much emotion they packed into a movie."

Some critics felt the film's violence was excessive, and that the action sequences dragged out too long. Barbara Shulgasser of the San Francisco Examiner called the movie "idiotic" and argued that "a good director would choose the best of the six ways and put it in his movie. Woo puts all six in. If you keep your eyes closed during a Woo movie and open them every six minutes, you'll see everything you need to know to have a perfectly lovely evening at the cinema."

Face/Off holds a 94 percent "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 54 positive reviews out of a total 56 and a score of 82 on Metacritic with 25 reviews counted. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Sound Editing at the 70th Academy Awards, but lost to Titanic. Face/Off also won the Saturn Awards for Best Directing and Writing, and the MTV Movie Awards for Best Action Scene (the speedboat chase) and Best Duo for Travolta and Cage.

Soundtrack

Face/Off: Original Soundtrack Music By John Powell
Soundtrack album by John Powell
Released	July 1, 1997
Recorded	1997
Genre	Score
Length	41:42
Label	Hollywood Records
Producer	Hans Zimmer

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

The Face/Off soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on July 1, 1997, the week following the film's release.

1. "Face On" – (4:57)
2. "80 Proof Rock" – (4:29)
3. "Furniture" – (7:12)
4. "The Golden Section Derma Lift" – (3:15)
5. "This Ridiculous Chin" (– 6:51)
6. "No More Drugs For That Man" – (7:27)
7. "Hans' Loft" – (3:37)
8. "Ready For The Big Ride‚ Bubba" – (3:54)

• Orchestra Conducted By: Lucas Richman
• Orchestrated By: Bruce Fowler, Steven Fowler, Walt Fowler, Yvonne S. Moriarty, Ladd McIntosh and Lucas Richman

Additional music

Several pieces of music and songs were used in the film but not included in the soundtrack. These include:

• "Since By Man Came Death" and "Hallelujah" from oratorio 'Messiah' - Handel
• Pamina's Aria "Ach, ich fühl's" from "Die Zauberflöte" - Mozart
• "Prelude in D-flat, Op. 28, No. 15 ('Raindrop')" - Chopin
• "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" - James Brown
• "Over the Rainbow" (Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg) - Olivia Newton-John
• "Christiansands" - Tricky
• "Don't Lose Your Head" - INXS
• "Miserere Mei, Deus (VV.1-4 & 17-20)" - Gregorio Allegri

External links

• Face/Off at the Internet Movie Database
• Face/Off at the TCM Movie Database
• Face/Off at AllRovi
• Face/Off at Box Office Mojo
• Face/Off at Rotten Tomatoes
• Face/Off at Metacritic