‘Face/Off’ A Surprisingly Horrific Show
The first thing you need to know about “Face/Off” is that it’s a horror movie.
I say this up front because you could easily mistake the new film - which is certainly action-packed - for an action picture. But in fact, “Face/Off” uses the latest action techniques to heat up its horror effects.
Which brings me to the second, third and fourth things you need to know about this movie:
It’s sick, slick and sensational.
The shockingly literal title refers to a macabre plot device that allows two men to have their faces taken off and surgically switched. Sean Archer (John Travolta) is the FBI agent who swaps mugs with Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), a captured terrorist, in order to go undercover.
But the plot really starts to thicken when Castor breaks free, takes over Sean’s job and moves in with his family.
If you aren’t a big fan of today’s horror films, don’t automatically dismiss this one. After all, most recent horror flicks are such shallow sacks of shocks that even a lousy movie like “Scream” - a shallow but slightly more self-aware sack of shocks - can become a hit and even receive respectful reviews.
“Face/Off” isn’t that kind of movie. Not at all. Beneath its flashy surface, it plumbs the depths of psychological horror.
The premise - which combines “Frankenstein” with “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” - takes you into the minds of its central characters.
For Sean, it’s revolting just to have to wear the face of the fiendish Castor, who, by the way, is responsible for the death of the FBI agent’s son. And after the disguised terrorist begins living with Sean’s wife and attempting to seduce his pubescent daughter, the situation becomes our hero’s creepiest nightmare.
This astonishingly perverse film might have been unbearably perverse if not for the surprising subtlety of its observations.
It’s darkly funny, for example, that Sean’s FBI staff prefers the masquerading Castor, whose wildness is charismatic, to their real boss, a driven and remote authority figure. And Castor’s relationship with Sean’s family is intriguingly complex.
“Lies, distrust, mixed messages,” the masquerading villain complains, describing a series of encounters with Sean’s wife. “This is turning into a real marriage.”
“Face/Off” may be twisted, but it’s far from soulless. Clearly, Hong Kong director James Woo has considered the human dimensions of the nightmarish scenario.
That’s something I wouldn’t have said about last year’s “Broken Arrow,” which also was directed by Woo and also starred Travolta.
In “Broken Arrow” - which really was an action flick - the filmmaker hadn’t yet learned to balance action, drama, humor and other elements. At least, not for some American tastes.
But his work in “Face/Off” suggests that he’s a likely heir to the master-of-suspense title that used to be held by Brian De Palma (who had inherited it from Hitchcock).
“Broken Arrow” was mistakenly cast, with the sympathetic Travolta playing the heavy and the spiky Christian Slater as the hero. Obviously, the actors should have switched roles.
That’s just what Travolta and Cage do during the new film. In “Face/Off,” the bizarre hall-of-mirrors plot device allows both of them to play both roles.
Each of these actors is so inventive in each of his roles that it’s hard to say who is better at which.
As bad-guy Castor, Cage is brilliantly over-the-top in that otherworldly way that only he is capable of being. But Travolta’s Castor has an unexpected - and unsettling - ambivalence.
Travolta’s Sean, meanwhile, is so tormented that it just breaks your heart. As for Cage, he brings an almost abstract quality to his performance as Sean that helps you to imagine the haunted man beneath the borrowed face.
In another of her strong, thankless performances, Joan Allen (“The Crucible,” “Nixon”) does affecting work as Sean’s wife. Also in the cast are Dominique Swain (who has the title role in the upcoming “Lolita” remake) as Sean’s rebellious daughter, Alessandro Nivola as Castor’s crazed-genius brother and Gina Gershon (“Bound”) as Castor’s girlfriend.
The action scenes in “Broken Arrow” had a certain cheesiness, but “Face/Off” is polished and sleek. Woo handles the rough stuff so nimbly that it’s easy to see why his Hong Kong films have attracted a devoted cult following.
It almost goes without saying that the faint of heart should stay away. This film is very strong stuff - stronger, perhaps, than they can imagine.
“Face/Off” is simply the best and most disturbing horror movie to come along since “The Silence of the Lambs.”
That’s something else you should know about it.
xxxx “Face/Off” Locations: Lincoln Heights, North Division, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls Credits: Directed by John Woo, starring John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore Running time: 2:16 Rating: R