Face/Off (1997)

Face/Off is a 1997 American science fiction action film directed by John Woo, written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.

Directed by John Woo. With John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola. In order to foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same terrorist impersonates the FBI agent.

FBI Special Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) tries to find a biological weapon placed in Los Angeles by a sadistic terrorist-for-hire and criminal mastermin...

Directed by John Woo. With John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola. In order to foil an extortion plot, an FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same terrorist impersonates the FBI agent.

The third of John Woo's American-made feature films, Face/Off stars John Travolta as Sean Archer, an FBI agent obsessed with capturing Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), a criminal genius who years before killed Archer's son while trying to assassinate the agent. Archer's single-minded pursuit of Troy has caused serious harm to his marriage, but Archer thinks the light may have appeared at the end of the tunnel when a seriously wounded Troy is captured in a bloody shootout. However, it turns out that Troy has planted a time bomb, with a biological payload that could destroy the entire city of Los Angeles -- and Troy isn't about to say where it is. The only other person who knows the bomb's location is Troy's brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola), who is no more helpful than Castor. FBI scientists hatch a plan: they have developed an experimental surgery which would allow them to graft Troy's face temporarily on Archer's head and allow him to question Pollux as if he were his brother. But after Archer has taken Troy's face, Troy regains consciousness and forces the doctors to give him Archer's face. Now the criminal mastermind has the FBI at his disposal, and the lawman is underground with few places to turn. Along with Woo's usual elaborately choreographed action scenes, Face/Off features a number of notable supporting performances, including Joan Allen as Archer's wife, Colm Feore and C.C.H. Pounder as FBI scientists, and Gina Gershon as Troy's loyal but long-suffering girlfriend. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

There is a moment in "Face/ Off" when Sean Archer (John Travolta), a member of a secret FBI anti-terrorist team, confronts the comatose body of Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), his archenemy, in the hospital.

The big-budget action movies of the late ’90s were supposed to work a particular way. They would start with an absurd, over-the-top premise—the president of the United States fighting the terrorists who had taken over his plane, say, or a team of convicts highjacking a prison-transport plane and using it for nefarious means. The director would then use that premise to string together a series of ridiculous escalating set pieces. And the producers would hire some of the best actors available, with the idea that these familiar faces would somehow ground what we were watching, that they’d make it all seem somehow plausible. Maybe that was the thinking behind 1997’s Face/Off, but that’s not what happened. Instead, that movie gave us two of Hollywood’s hammiest, weirdest leading men going off on a rabid scenery-munching competition, dragging the movie itself to new heights of goofiness along the way.

Face/Off summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links.

Face/Off. 897K likes. To destroy your enemy, you must find him, face him, and then... become him.