The Syndicate Review: Face/Off

I loved Con Air, The Rock, and films like those because they were non-stop, end to end action. They had characters I liked, and that dead-pan action humor that keeps those movies light and fun. Face/Off takes action films to another level. First of all, it has a story. John Travolta plays Sean Archer, an FBI agent whose son is killed by terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage). Archer spends the next six years tracking Troy, and finally catches him. But this is where the movie really gets interesting. Troy is in a coma, but somewhere in Los Angeles, he's planted a bomb capable of blowing up one square mile of L.A. The only other person who knows of the bomb's whereabouts, is Troy's brother, and he isn't talking. So with the help of new technology, Archer becomes Troy by having Troy's face taken off of his head and put onto Archer's. So now, Nicolas Cage is Archer. Well, as you can guess, the real Castor Troy wakes up, finds his face missing, and gets the real Archer's face put on his head. Travolta is now Castor Troy.

Sound confusing? Well, when I first heard about this film, I was afraid it would be too confusing, and the movie would be hard to follow. I was wrong. Director John Woo has crafted a movie so brilliant that there is never a time where you don't know what's going on. The action sequences are absolutely breathtaking, and the scene in the church is one of the most amazing scenes I have ever watched. This movie isn't just about revenge, or cops chasing down robbers. This is a movie that deals with good and evil in a way that allows both sides to see each other first hand. When Nicolas Cage becomes Archer, he knows he can't go anywhere without being recognized, and the law is no longer on his side. He may be FBI agent Archer on the inside, but he looks like Castor Troy. So he uses Troy's friends, criminals he has tried to put behind bars himself, to get to the ultimate good. Travolta, as Troy, realizes that he can use his new face, his new good guy face, to get rid of his terrorist competitors. Both Cage and Travolta give great performances and John Woo has set the new benchmark for action films.