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See Face/Off (roller coaster) for the ride named after this movie.

Face/Off
Face/Off movie poster
Directed by	John Woo
Produced by	David Permut Barrie M. Osborne Terence Chang J Mark Travis
Written by	Mike Werb Michael Colleary
Starring	John Travolta Nicolas Cage
Music by	John Powell Michael A. Reagan (source music)
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Steven Kemper Christian Wagner
Distributed by	-USA- Paramount Pictures -non-USA- Buena Vista Distribution Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	June 27, 1997
Running time	138 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Face/Off is a 1997 film starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage and directed by John Woo in which an FBI agent must assume the identity of his nemesis to stop a terrorist plot.

It is considered one of Woo's most successful American films.^[1] The film exemplifies gun fu and heroic bloodshed action sequences, and has Travolta and Cage each playing two personalities. It was the first Hollywood film on which Woo was given complete creative control and was acclaimed by both audiences and critics as a result. Eventually grossing $245 million worldwide, the film was a financial success.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Release 4 Reception 5 Soundtrack 5.1 Additional music 6 References 7 External links

An international terrorist for hire named Castor Troy is being relentlessly pursued by Sean Archer, an FBI agent whose son was killed years earlier when Troy attempted to kill Archer. The FBI receives information that Castor's brother Pollux has chartered a plane at a Los Angeles airport, leading Archer to believe that Castor is with him. Archer leads an FBI team in chasing the plane down a runway and is able to shoot one of the engines. Unable to take off, Castor kills the pilot and crashes the plane into a hangar. In the ensuing chaos, Pollux is captured by the FBI and Castor is knocked into a coma after bragging to Archer about a bomb that would destroy Los Angeles.

Archer believes Castor to have been bluffing, but after the FBI finds schematics for the bomb on a disk recovered from the wreckage, Archer realizes that it is real. Unable to find any information about the location of the bomb, Archer knows that the only way to obtain the location is from Castor's brother Pollux. Knowing he would never confess the bomb's location to the FBI, Archer's colleagues convince him to undergo a surgical procedure to switch faces with Castor's comatose body.

After the procedure, arrangements are made for Archer (as Castor) to be incarcerated with Pollux so that he can discover the location of the bomb which he does successfully. Castor awakens from his coma and has the procedure performed on himself, stealing Archer's face. Castor then kills everyone who knew about the operation and visits Archer in prison. Castor (as Archer) has the FBI negotiate a deal with his brother for his release in return for revealing the bomb's location. Castor disarms the bomb and revels in praise from his colleagues and the media, informing his brother that they are going straight.

Archer (as Castor) escapes from Erehwon prison, which is revealed to be inside an offshore oil platform, and swims to shore. He visits Dietrich Hassler, a known associate of Castor's and asks Dietrich for help killing Sean Archer (Castor). Archer (as Castor) meets Sasha and her son Adam, of whom Castor is the father. Pollux Troy is watching Dietrich's apartment and informs Castor of Archer's arrival. Castor (as Archer) sends an FBI team to kill Archer. Following a gunfight, Dietrich is killed by Castor (as Archer) and Archer (as Castor) manages to kill Pollux.

FBI Director Victor Lazaro berates Castor (as Archer) for the bloodbath. Castor, still angry at the loss of his brother, confesses his true identity to Lazaro and kills him, later blaming the death on a heart attack. Meanwhile, Archer (as Castor) returns to his suburban home and is able to explain the situation and convince his wife that he is really Archer.

Sasha and Archer (as Castor) track Castor to Lazaro's funeral, where Castor (as Archer) is holding Archer's wife and daughter Jamie hostage. The ensuing standoff leads to a gunfight in which Sasha and Castor's men are killed. Castor and Archer fight and Archer gains the upper hand. Jamie finds a gun and shoots at Archer, believing him to be Castor, but wounds him in the shoulder. Castor manages to escape in a boat, pursued by Archer (as Castor). After a lengthy chase both Archer and Castor's boats are destroyed and they are thrown ashore by an explosion. The two fight and Archer kills Castor with a spear gun. Archer's wife is able to convince the FBI of Sean's true identity and the face swap is reversed. The film ends with Archer adopting Sasha's son Adam.

Originally the film was to be set in the future and was to star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in the lead roles.

Another pairing that was considered was that of Harrison Ford and Michael Douglas ^[3]. When the film was eventually made, Douglas was an executive producer.

John Woo was offered a chance to direct but declined unless the studio agreed to give him more creative control than he had received on his previous American films. Woo set the movie in the present so he could focus on the psychological elements of the story, and picked Travolta and Cage to star. In line with Woo's style from his earlier films, many action scenes were filmed in slow motion. ^[2][4]

Costing $80 million to make, Face/Off made heavy use of action set pieces including several violent shootouts and a boat chase. It was filmed in the Los Angeles area.^[5][6]

The names Castor and Pollux come from a pair of brothers from Greek mythology which also features the city of Troy.

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 grossing film of 1997 and has earned a worldwide lifetime gross of $245 million.^[7][5]

The Region 1 DVD of Face/Off was one of the first films to be released on the format on October 7, 1998.^[8] A 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition is scheduled for release on DVD September 11th 2007 and HD-DVD October 30th 2007.^[9] The new DVD will be a 2-disc set including 7 deleted scenes, an alternate ending and several featurettes.^[10]

Garnering largely positive reviews and high box office earnings, the film was 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 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."^[11] 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."^[12]

Some critics felt the film's violence was overkill, 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."^[13]

Face/Off holds a 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 46 positive reviews out of a total 50 and a score of 82 on Metacritic with 25 reviews counted.^[14][15] 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.^[16]

Face/Off: Original Soundtrack Music By John Powell
Soundtrack by John Powell
Released	July 1, 1997
Recorded	1997
Genre	Film music
Length	41:42
Label	Hollywood Records

The score to Face/Off was composed by John Powell and the official soundtrack containing portions of the score was released on July 1, 1997 by Hollywood Records (owned by The Walt Disney Company, which also owns the film's international distributor Touchstone Pictures).^[17] A bootleg version of the score sought after by collectors also exists which contains all the cues from the film in their original order.^[18]

The official release was received poorly for being incomplete and the overall score was seen as clichéd. One reviewer commented that "Lack of fluidity --or any sense of elegance-- is a fatal flaw in Face/Off, with the need for extended sequences of action music leading to frenzies of guitars, electronic orchestra hits in typical Zimmer progressions, and stuttering rhythms that mark bullet hits well on screen, but only serve to irritate on album."^[19]

Several tracks were used in the film but not included in the soundtrack.^[20]

• "Hallelujah" from oratorio 'Messiah' (by Handel)
• Pamina's Aria "Ach, ich fühl's" from "Die Zauberflöte" (by Mozart)
• "Prelude in D-flat, Op. 28, No. 15 ('Raindrop')" (by Chopin)
• "Over The Rainbow" (by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg)
• "Christiansands" (by Tricky)
• "Don't Lose Your Head" (by INXS)

• Face/Off at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Films directed by John Woo

Fist to Fist (1973) • The Young Dragons (1974) • The Dragon Tamers (1974) • Princess Chang Ping (1975) • Hand of Death (1975) • Money Crazy (1977) • Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1978) • Hello, Late Homecomers (1978) • Follow the Star (1978) • From Riches to Rags (1980) • To Hell with the Devil (1981) • Laughing Times (1981) • Plain Jane to the Rescue (1982) • The Time You Need a Friend (1984) • Run Tiger Run (1985) • Heroes Shed No Tears (1986) • A Better Tomorrow (1986) • A Better Tomorrow II (1987) • The Killer (1989) • Tragic Heroes (1989) • Bullet in the Head (1990) • Once a Thief (1991) • Hard Boiled (1992) • Hard Target (1993) • Broken Arrow (1996) • Once a Thief (1996) • Face/Off (1997) • Blackjack (1998) • Mission: Impossible II (2000) • Windtalkers (2002) • Paycheck (2003) • All the Invisible Children (2005) • Red Cliff (2008)