Face/Off [Blu-ray]
by John Woo
![Face/Off [Blu-ray]](/images/Face-Off-Blu-ray-B000RZGIOA-L.jpg)
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Blu-ray details
Actor: John Travolta, Nicolas CageDirector: John Woo
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Cinematographer: Oliver Wood
Composer: John Powell
Editor: Steven Kemper
Editor: Christian Wagner
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 138 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2008-06-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: Blu-ray
- AC-3; Collector's Edition; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Special Edition; Subtitled; Wid
Blu-ray Reviews of Face/Off [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: John Woo's best work in Hollywood
Summary: 4 Stars
Sometimes, being a legend in something doesn't guarantee success. That certainly is the case of John Woo, a legendary director in Asia, who has made some really influential action films like Hard Boiled and Ichi the Killer. Many of his films are strong influences on today's crop of action directors and actors. When news came out that he was heading to Hollywood, everyone got excited. But in the end, Face/Off is the only one of the films he made in the U.S. that really made an impact. Which is a weird thing, since this film is without a doubt, the most far-fetched project Woo did in the U.S. and probably in his whole career.
The film's plot tells it all: FBI agent Sean Archer(Travolta) finally captures his long time nemesis, Castor Troy(Cage), the man who killed his son; but learns he has left a parting gift in the form of a bomb somewhere in LA. In order to stop him, Archer takes the face of Troy (who is in a comma)and "becomes" Troy in order to get the information he needs to stop the bomb. While he is doing that. Castor wakes up(sans face) and forces the surgeons who turned Archer into Troy to turn him into Archer and then destroys all evidence of it happening. The main characters have in fact, switched places. Troy now living with Archer's wife and daughter and Archer hiding within Troy's underworld contacts. Plenty of action ensues. Confused? I understand.
As far out and impossible as all this sounds, Woo makes it work. For length of the film you have no problem believing it is possible to turn someone like John Travolta into someone like Nic Cage. The reason for this is that both actors give themselves completely to their roles. Travolta truly shines, first establishing the tortured Archer, then having a blast copying the over the top intensity that Cage infused into the character of Castor Troy. Same thing with Cage. Though we only see him in the beggining as Troy, but it is more than enough for Cage to bring him to life. In 15 minutes, he projects every ounce of decadence and arrogance of the character. Which makes it the more fun when Travolta takes over and vice-versa. It is this interaction that makes this film successful despite the moon crater-like holes in this story. After all, the whole reason the whole convulted plot was concieved, was to explore the duality of good and evil within each of us. Incredibly, it succeeds.
Of course, this being a Woo film, there is plenty of action and gun-play. All of the trademarked Woo-isms are here: plenty of gun to gun stand-offs, churches, white doves and enough slow-motion to satisfy the hardcore Woo fans. Woo makes action look like a flowing dance and this film is no exception. The brutality and chaos of some scenes offset by slow-mo shots that makes everything flow. The beggining and end sequences are particuarly noteworthy.
The tranfer to High Def is pretty decent. It lacks the sharpness and detail of recent films but a lot of that has to do woth the age of the film. On the other hand, many older films have had better transfers than this one so it is probably a combination of age and a not-so-awsome job on the transfer. Having said that, this is quite simply, the best this film has looked on Home Video. Certainly superior to every DVD release of this film.
Face/Off is a great and entertaining film despite its flaws. The fact that you are able to really enjoy it even with the out-of-this world premise, is a testament to Woo, Cage, Travolta and the entire cast of this film. An awsome action film that looks great on Blu-Ray.
Description of Face/Off [Blu-ray]
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/17/2010 Run time: 140 minutes Rating: RAt his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean Axmaker
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