Face/Off

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Face/Off

Directed by	John Woo
Produced by	David Permut Barrie M. Osborne Terence Chang
Written by	Mike Werb Michael Colleary
Starring	John Travolta Nicolas Cage
Distributed by	-USA- Paramount Pictures -non-USA- Buena Vista Distribution Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	June 27, 1997
Running time	2 hrs. 18 min
Language	English
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Face/Off is a 1997 film directed by John Woo starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. It was the 10th top-grossing film in 1997.

Face/Off is considered one of Woo's most successful Hollywood works, not only because of its intense Gun fu and Heroic bloodshed action sequences, but for its unique plot which required Travolta and Cage to each play two personalities. As a result of emotional characterization, the viewer does not lose sense of who is the hero or villain, despite switching to a different actor. Another reason for its success was because Woo enjoyed the most creative control over the project, enabling him to put his trademark on it.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 Additional Music
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Face/Off is the story of FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) who has spent the last 6 years hunting down a terrorist/assassin named Castor Troy (Cage). Troy had attempted to assassinate Archer, but ended up killing his son instead. Acting on a tip, Archer and a team of FBI agents move in on a jet that contains Troy and his brother and partner-in-crime, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola). The jet runs into a hangar and the brothers try and escape. Castor kills a number of agents in a huge gun battle, but he is eventually put in a coma by Archer and Pollux is captured. However, it is revealed that Castor and Pollux were hired to blow up some part of L.A. using a biological weapon. After Archer interrogates some of Castor's henchmen, it becomes apparent that Pollux is the only one other than his comatose brother who knows where the bomb is and he will only talk about it with his brother. A government official tells Archer about a new surgical technique where one person's face can be transferred to another (see face transplant). Archer realizes that this is the only way that he can "become" Castor Troy and get the information he needs out of Pollux. He agrees, but due to the secrecy of the operation, he cannot tell his wife and daughter or anyone else in the agency. The operation is a success, and Archer (now played by Nicolas Cage) is transferred to the security prison that houses Pollux.

At the prison, Archer manages to get the location of the bomb: it's in the L.A. convention center. However, the real Castor Troy wakes up from the coma and he captures the doctor who performed the surgery and has Archer's face put onto his. Troy (now played by Travolta) and his men then burn all the people who knew about this operation and set fire to the building, thus destroying all the evidence and documentation that connects the two of them. Castor then visits Archer in prison and boasts about switching faces and then has his brother Pollux set free. He has Pollux "confess" to the location of the bomb and defuses it, thus becoming a hero, and uses his power to conduct raids on rival criminals throughout the city. He then goes home and interacts with Archer's family. In the prison, Archer manages to escape with the help of another prisoner and gets back to L.A. Archer then visits an old friend of Castor's, Dietrich Hassler (Nick Cassavetes), and wants him to help kill "Sean Archer". However, Castor learns about Archer's arrival there and has an FBI task force raid the house. A huge battle starts and Archer gets Castor's ex-girlfriend, Sasha (Gina Gershon) and her young son (by Troy) out of the house. Archer and Troy end up fighting each other and in the process, Pollux Troy is killed and Archer escapes.

The FBI Director Victor Lazarro shows up in Castor's office furious at the bloodbath that happened at the house. Victor tells Castor (still impersonating Archer) that he is terminating his so-called war on terrorism and wants his raids to stop. Castor kills Lazarro and tells everyone that he had a heart attack. As Castor is promoted to FBI Director, Archer goes back to his house and tells his wife what happened and pleads with her to believe him. She finally believes him when she sees that their blood types don't match just as Troy starts getting suspicious of her. Troy and Archer's wife go to Lazarro's funeral, unexpectedly meeting Archer and Sasha. A fight breaks out, Sasha is killed, and Troy gets away on a boat. After a chase, a furious Archer kills Troy, gets his face back and goes back to his family, adopting Troy and Sasha's son.

It is likely that Woo used clear symbolism for the names of his main characters. Castor and Pollux are characters in Greek mythology, two brothers killed by an archer, a clear reference to the primary protagonist. The Greek influence in the surname Troy could be seen as confirmation of this idea.

[edit] Cast

John Travolta - Sean Archer/Castor Troy
Nicolas Cage - Castor Troy/Sean Archer
Joan Allen - Dr. Eve Archer
Alessandro Nivola - Pollux Troy
Gina Gershon - Sasha Hassler
Dominique Swain - Jamie Archer
Nick Cassavetes - Dietrich Hassler
Harve Presnell - Victor Lazarro
Colm Feore - Dr. Malcolm Walsh
John Carroll Lynch - Walton, Prison Guard
CCH Pounder - Dr. Hollis Miller
Robert Wisdom - Tito Biondi
Margaret Cho - Wanda Tan
Jamie Denton - Buzz Williams
Matt Ross - Loomis
Chris Bauer - Ivan Dubov
Myles Jeffrey - Michael Archer
David McCurley - Adam Hassler
Thomas Jane - Burke Hicks

[edit] Trivia

The boat chase was originally going to be in John Woo's Hard Target, but when it was scrapped in favor of something else, he used it here instead.
The script was originally set in the distant future, but after John Woo signed on to direct, he had the script rewritten to feature a contemporary setting so that the focus would be more on the characters than the technology.
This is also one of two movies that Thomas Jane and John Travolta have co-stared in, the other movie was the 2004 feature film The Punisher which was based on the Marvel Comics hero of the same name.
This is the second movie John Travolta has worked on with director John Woo. The 1996 movie Broken Arrow was the other movie.
In a scene, Jamie Archer (Sean's daughter who was played by Dominique Swain) had a boyfriend who was trying to force himself on to her. That character was played by Danny Masterson of That 70's Show fame
Castor Troy was featured in Jay-Z's lyrics in the song "Threat", the lyrics are "...Like, castor oil and I Castor Troy you, change your face or the bullets change all that for you..."
Peter Griffin mentions Face/Off in an episode of Family Guy. He says he doesn't want his face switched like in Face/Off.