We’ve had the Face Off video for about 2 years or so (cheers Haylie) and I managed to watch it for the first time yesterday. Action films bore the life out of me and Face Off looked like it was the usual helicopter chasing, mucho explosions, no plot, shoot ‘em up. I finally succumbed ... Read review
An international terrorist for hire named Castor Troy is being relentlessly pursued by ... more
Sean Archer an FBI agent whose son Castor accidentally killed in an assassination attempt years earlier. After finally catching Troy Archer's troubles have only ju...
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Oscar. winning superstar Nicolas Cage (Con Air) and screen icon John Travolta (Pulp ... more
Fiction) battle head to head in FACE/OFF...the ultimate cat and mouse thriller directed by the world's most acclaimed action film director, John Woo! To avenge the sens...
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Gone In 60 Seconds - Director's Cut:Fasten your seatbelts for the extended ride of your ... more
life in this high-performance fuel-injected Gone In 60 Seconds Director's Cut from producer Jerry Bruckheimer (National Treasure Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl). Never-before-seen footage and amped-up sound add fuel to this already high-octane action hit starring Nicolas Cage Robert Duvall and sexy Angelina Jolie. A legendary car booster (Cage) thought he left the fast lane behind him - until he's forced out of retirement to save his kid brother from the wrath of an evil mobster. It's nothing less than a full-throttle race to pull off the ultimate car heist: 50 exotic beauties in 24 hours - and the cops are already onto them!The Rock:Academy Award winners Sean Connery (Entrapment) and Nicolas Cage (Gone in 60 Seconds Face/Off Con Air) star in this action-adventure blockbuster. Millions of lives hang in the balance after a military madman (Ed Harris - Apollo 13) seizes control of the island prison Alcatraz and threatens to launch deadly poison gas missiles at San Francisco. With time ticking away a chemical weapons expert (Cage) and a cunning federal prisoner (Connery) who happens to be the only man to have broken out of Alcatraz must now break in and disarm the missiles.Face/OffOscar winning superstar Nicolas Cage (Con Air) and screen icon John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) battle head to head in Face/Off... the ultimate cat and mouse thriller directed by the world's most acclaimed action film director John Woo (Mission Impossible 2). To avenge the senseless murder of his son FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) undergoes radical new surgery allowing him to switch faces with the comatose terrorist Castor Troy (Cage) and assume his identity. But when Castor awakes and assumes Sean's identity the real Sean is thrust into an unimaginable nightmare fighting not only for his life but also those of his wife (Joan Allen) and daughter. Brilliant performances and mind-numbing visual effects make Face/Off the explosive action thriller you've got to see to believe.
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Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
We’ve had the Face Off video for about 2 years or so (cheers Haylie) and I managed to watch it for the first time yesterday. Action films bore the life out of me and Face Off looked like it was the usual helicopter chasing, mucho explosions, no plot, shoot ‘em up. I finally succumbed to it all after 3 weeks of Nevil’s none stop Face off hand signals and his constant plot spoiling. It’s clearly worked because he hasn’t ... ...a fancy flourish for a good 12 hours now.
Face Off is directed by John Woo who, I gather, is an Action Director of the highest order, and Executive Producer is none other than chief lard arse himself: Michael Douglas (if, indeed, he is the man I’m thinking of). John Travolta (Who I went right off after hearing about his Scientology) is Sean Archer, a FBI agent, and Nick Cage (always synonymous with Elvis and snakeskin) plays ... more
We’ve had the Face Off video for about 2 years or so (cheers Haylie) and I managed to watch it for the first time yesterday. Action films bore the life out of me and Face Off looked like it was the usual helicopter chasing, mucho explosions, no plot, shoot ‘em up. I finally succumbed to it all after 3 weeks of Nevil’s none stop Face off hand signals and his constant plot spoiling. It’s clearly worked because he hasn’t suddenly shoved a hand in my face saying ‘Face…off!’ with a fancy flourish for a good 12 hours now.
Face Off is directed by John Woo who, I gather, is an Action Director of the highest order, and Executive Producer is none other than chief lard arse himself: Michael Douglas (if, indeed, he is the man I’m thinking of). John Travolta (Who I went right off after hearing about his Scientology) is Sean Archer, a FBI agent, and Nick Cage (always synonymous with Elvis and snakeskin) plays Castor Troy the terrorist.
Although I like Pulp Fiction, I thought that Travolta’s performance in it was overrated. My vase of Lilies are scarier gangsters. I also thought that he’d probably been overrated in this, but his acting was quite outstanding and he really surprised me. Cage, of course, is just brilliant no matter what he does. Apart from marriage.
The character of Caster is a raging and charismatic madman, and the character of Sean is a sensitive, sometimes moody, all round good guy who throws himself into his work. He’s a family man who loves his wife and daughter whereas Caster is a crazy old slut who lives for the evil pleasures in life. For reasons that will become apparent later, both actors play both these parts. If you think I’m revealing too much of the plot here, I’ll justify myself by saying that I think it’s absolutely necessary to rave about the strength and talent of Travolta and Cage, without whom the film really would be just another crappy shoot ‘em up. But on with the plot…
Caster had murdered Sean’s son 6 years previously and during this time Sean has been on a mission to find the bastard and avenge his son’s death. Very early on in the film, Sean and his FBI crew find Caster and boring action sequence Number One then begins. Guns, fire, chasing, helicopter, high velocity and low appeal. It went on for far too long and I almost fell asleep, especially when Sean and Caster (Both masters in their fields and accurate gunmen, I’ll add) kept shooting at each other and missing, purely to lengthen and add suspense to a tired old scene.
Caster has an equally crazy younger brother who’s a bit more unhinged than he is, but they’re both partners in crime. The brother gets arrested and imprisoned, and Caster was so injured by Sean that he’s now in a coma. The brother confesses that he has built a bomb that Caster has already planted and is due to explode on the 18th of that month, but as this is the only information he’ll give them, the FBI come up with a completely harebrained scheme.
They want Sean to wear Caster’s face and infiltrate the prison and pretend to be him, to get the info they need about the whereabouts of the bomb. But he can’t tell anyone about this, not his fellow workers and especially not his family. Well of course he can’t.
So, a top, mega-skilled surgeon carefully and precisely slices off Sean’s face before slicing off Casters and transplanting it onto Sean. The operation is a success and now Cage is playing Sean. Cage is always an excellent choice for playing madmen, but he can also calm his performance down and play the sensitive guy. Also, as he looks at himself in the mirror for the first time with the face of the man who murdered his son, his reaction is spot-on as he goes berserk with disgust and hatred.
The prison is unbelievably strict, but Sean manages to coax the information out of his brother. Caster wakes up from his coma in the meantime and discovers he hasn’t got a face. This isn’t at all gruesome, as we only get to see his fleshy face side on. He then threatens the surgeon into transplanting Sean’s face onto his, so Travolta is now playing Caster, then he kills everyone connected with the operation so that nobody will ever know that he isn’t who he looks like. If you see what I mean.
Caster now pretends to be Sean, and takes over his job and moves into his house. Sean, who pretends to be mad and breaks out of jail, now has to hang around with Caster’s mates because no one will believe his story and he’s got nowhere else to go. And of course, there’s a love interest involving caster’s ex, but the film proceeds well and I was hooked. The rest of the film deals with evil Castor infiltrating Sean’s life and Sean trying to persuade his wife that he’s Sean, even if he doesn’t look like Sean and although Caster looks like Sean, he’s actually Caster. It’s all so confusing. Actually, it's easier to understand on screen.
The film ends in a Reservoir Dogs style shoot off, but my lips are sealed as to who dies and whether or not the truth outs. And what significance the little boy, eh?? You’ll have to watch it yourselves, people. I did enjoy it despite the action scenes, which I begrudgingly admit are imperative to an action film. The dialogue was good and believable and the acting and direction was superb. I might even watch it for a second time. I never thought I’d hear myself say THAT about fake, boring explosions…
Advantages: Superb Direction, Great acting, compelling viewing. Disadvantages: It took so long to see it originally.
...without a decent cast and Face/Off seems to work there as well. With a cast that includes Nicholas Cage and John Travolta there was little chance this wasn’t going to work. Of course Woo had worked with Travolta before on Broken Arrow and that partnership seems to have been rekindled. I’ve not come to expect any less from Travolta but it is another amazing performance. He really makes the characters his own and when playing both personalities really ... ...The same can be said of Cage. I’ve always thought that he was a good actor but this role shows just how diverse his acting ability actually is. The way both he and Travolta show each of the characters is almost scary as they adopt characteristics from both characters into their roles. Of course you wouldn’t really expect anything less from two of the best actors in Hollywood. The rest of the cast play a good supporting role, with very good performances ...
Andy.mack 10.05.2003 (11.05.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Face/Off (DVD)
Nicholas Cage and John Travolta are paired up in this explosive action film, which has to be one of my favourite films of all time.
Castor Troy (Cage) attempts to murder FBI Agent Sean Archer, (Travolta) while he enjoys a carousel ride with his young son. Unfortunately the bullet passes through Archer's shoulder and hits his son, killing him outright. Archer is devastated and revenge is foremost on his mind.
A few years later Troy has planted a ... ...sustains injuries in a fight with Archer, which leaves him comatose. In order to locate the position of the bomb Archer agrees to undergo a futuristic and pioneering operation to swap faces with Troy. Undercover as Troy, Archer can effectively get inside information from his friends about the bomb, while pretending to be Troy. Unfortunately Troy wakes from his coma and realises he has no face. Threatening the doctors into transplanting Archer's face ...
wendybull 09.10.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Face/Off (DVD)
This next review is another action film, one which I would consider to be a great film, not only because of the starts involved in the film, but rather the unique storyline of the film, it was something that had yet to be done, and in my opinion was just done brilliantly. I am reviewing the 1997 blockbuster hit "Face Off", directed by John Woo and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. For me this film was just genius, because it took an unheard ... ...of that I consider these two actors to be brilliant and watching the film, showed how well these two characters seemed to work with one another. It was action, drama and excitement throughout and I don't think I can remember a moment were I was bored.
Director: John Woo has been a huge director for some time now; I must confess I hadn't actually heard of him until he made Broken Arrow in 1996, in which he also worked with Travolta. However since ...
jaygami1986 17.02.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Face/Off (DVD)
Advantages: Fantastic dialogue, action, and well, everything really. Disadvantages: The parallel port Zip drive used in the film has an unbelievably quick seek time.
Well, as many of you will know, I'm in the middle of writing my Disney series of ops. So what am I doing writing about a film that's about as far from Disney as you can get, I hear you ask. Well, I had thought about writing one about "Beauty and the Beast", then I started one on "Aladdin", but I just wasn't having any fun. So, for a change of pace I decided that I ought to write about an all action movie, full of explosions, two handed gun play and ... ...which directors use to show us that what we're watching is, in fact, a flashback. It's six years ago, and Sean Archer (John Travolta - Grease, Pulp Fiction) is with his son, riding an old fashioned merry-go-round. The camera zooms back, and we see Castor Troy (Nicolas "I want to play a superhero before I die" Cage - Leaving Las Vegas, Raising Arizona) uncovering a rifle. He aims for Sean and then hesitates, not wanting to hit his son. He waits and ...
thedeadparrot 13.06.2001 (14.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Face/Off (DVD)
As the film came to an end, I thought to myself 'Hmm....miracles can happen'. I am referring to the performance of one of the stars of this film, namely, Nicolas Cage. The man is one of Hollywood's big names, yet I have failed to click to any of his acting roles in any of his recent films. Barring 'Raising Arizona' which I hilariously enjoyed, and 'Leaving Las Vegas' which I believe he won an Oscar for, yet I felt was too dark for me at the time ... ...pay to watch him at the cinema, though would happily watch his movies on TV. Yet with this picture, he had a half decent stab at trying to genuinely portray the character in question, or should I say, two characters, despite the perennial 'over the top' flash in infrequent patches, he still managed to bring across the right emotions involved at the right time.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the man. He's probably a nice guy to those ...
kleft 28.01.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Face/Off (DVD)
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actors and well developed characters
Face/off:
well what can i say... I think this is the one to watch out of them. the story line of this movie isn't the best i've seen in my life but i have to say it had some pretty nice action, there's tons of language in it and lots of explotions!
Great for action lovers
Over all this DVD set is a great buy all three film are on my top 10 list
I must say this is a fantastic pack! Nicholas Cage is a fantastic actor and these are 3 of his best films.
Video Description
Face/Off:
DVD Special Features: Action Overload
Cast Biographies
Theatrical Trailer
Languages: English
Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
Running Time: 133 minutes approx.
Format: Widescreen 2.35:1
Dual Layer Format
The Rock - 2 Disc Set Disc 1:
The Movie
Audio Commentary
Disc 2
Analysis of the Dive ...
Advantages: i personaily think that 2 out 0f 3 of these films are brilliant really worth watching Disadvantages: has to be the fact it has the film the rock
I sat down to watch faceoff with out reading about it,or having even read the back of the dvd case. but it had nicolas cage in so i thought why not and i really really enjoyed the film. i think i have seen it about 12 times now.. it still makes me laugh now. gone in 60 secounds was just a well thought out dvd. it made me laugh. shocked me and made me worried in places i really enjoyed watching it. The rock.. i just really coudn't get in to this film, just my opion i didnt think much of it and decided to turn it off before i really even got in to it, so my comments on it are only based on my taste in films. but this pacage is worth buying just for the other 2 dvd's . you will have a good saturday night in ! ...
Advantages: Three films with Nicolas Cage in. Disadvantages: Not his best three
opinion the best. at first he refuses to help and tries to escape, but Dr. Stanley Goodspeed persuades him and the two form a great onscreen relationship.
the team get into Alcatraz but are soon in the line of heavy fire, within minutes its all left to Cage and Connery. the special effects are good but not incredible, in my opinion they didn't need to be its still a great film.
faceoff - a really interesting story. the face transplant is both disgusting yet amazing.
the story follows the classic, cop trying to take down a criminal who's impossible to catch. however the body swap is not the norm and this along with the acting make this a great film. FBI agent Sean Archer played by John Travolta is trying to catch Castor Troy a terrorist played by the brilliant Nicolas Cage. Troy killed Archer's son. Archer finds Troy and a fight ...
FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) undergoes surgery allowing him to switch faces with the comatose terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) in order to enable Sean to avenge the senseless murder of his son. When Castor awakes he assumes Sean's identity plunging Sean into a nightmare situation where he ends up fighting for his life and that of his wife and daughter.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
"...A mega-movie that actually delivers what mega-movies promise: strong characters, smart plotting, breathless action and a gimmick that hasn't been seen before..." (New York Times, p.C1, 27/06/1997)
"...FACE/OFF is relentlessly exciting, thanks to Woo's operatically staged fight and chase scenes and the bravura acting of the two stars..." -- 3 1/2 out of 4 stars (USA Today, p.1D, 27/06/1997)
DVD Description
The ordeal of super-heroic, singularly dedicated FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta – BLOW OUT, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER) is only beginning after finally capturing his arch nemesis, Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage – WILD AT HEART, NATIONAL TREASURE), an elusive, maniacal terrorist who claimed the life of Archer's son. While Troy languishes in a coma, Archer surgically 'borrows' Troy's face in an attempt to gather evidence about Troy's last bomb--which is currently ticking away in a Los Angeles office building. Trouble ensues when Troy wakes up faceless, borrows Archer's visage, and makes a mess of Archer's life; all the while, both men struggle to adapt to their new identities while struggling to blow each other away.
Another balletic, thematically complex action smorgasbord from Hong Kong action director John Woo (HARD BOILED, THE KILLER), FACE/OFF is the perfect showcase for the acting talents of Travolta and Cage, each spending most of the film perfectly imitating the other. The pair are also ably supported by Joan Allen (THE CONTENDER, THE ICE STORM), Allesandro Nivola (I WANT YOU, GOAL!) and Gina Gershon (BOUND, SHOWGIRLS).
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