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Face/Off

Play trailer 2:02 Poster for Face/Off R Released Jun 27, 1997 2h 18m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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93% Tomatometer 98 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
Obsessed with bringing terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) to justice, FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) tracks down Troy, who has boarded a plane in Los Angeles. After the plane crashes and Troy is severely injured, possibly dead, Archer undergoes surgery to remove his face and replace it with Troy's. As Archer tries to use his disguise to elicit information about a bomb from Troy's brother, Troy awakes from a coma and forces the doctor who performed the surgery to give him Archer's face.
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Face/Off

Face/Off

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Critics Consensus

John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play cat-and-mouse (and literally play each other) against a beautifully stylized backdrop of typically elegant, over-the-top John Woo violence.

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Critics Reviews

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Jake Cole Slant Magazine Face/Off immediately dials in on the operatic lunacy of its two leading men. Dec 17, 2023 Full Review Patrick Z. McGavin Chicago Reader Redeemed by Woo’s bravura skills, Face/Off becomes more than just a genre exercise. Rated: 3/4 Jun 15, 2022 Full Review David Ansen Newsweek Woo, a master of poetical carnage, mixes kitsch, sadism, sentiment and comedy with choreographic precision. Feb 28, 2018 Full Review Gayle Sequeira BFI In John Woo’s Face/Off, the unhinged intensity of the actors’ performances and outlandish absurdity of its plot is matched only by the relentless excess of its action. Nov 17, 2024 Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies In a time when the action genre seems to struggle to find its identity, it says something that the 27-year-old “Face/Off” still holds up against much of what passes for action cinema today. Rated: 4/5 Feb 28, 2024 Full Review Allison Rose FlickDirect Face/Off's action sequences are classic Woo with bullets flying every which way and plethora of guns to go around. Rated: 4.5/5 Dec 28, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jonathan O A thrilling crazy roller-coaster powerful action thriller both Cage and Travolta did really phenomenal performance playing cat and mouse and playing each other's characters and the stunts are truly unbelievable and amazing and scripts are so wild and very great writing and spectacular cinematography and really fantastic sound effects. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/20/24 Full Review Ari V Not a good film or anything, but lots of fun fodder. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/10/24 Full Review Audience Member Does this movie have a lot to say about our society? Not really. Will it change how you view your place in the universe? Probably not. Will it entertain you with 90s action hysteria? Abso-freaking-lutely. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/06/24 Full Review Daniel C. M Amazing performances and action, though quite a inflated runtime. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/26/24 Full Review Christopher L If you just extend your belief this is an enjoyable and dumb action movie. A nicely ridiculous performance by Cage and Travolta is Travolta-ish. I think I’d enjoy this movie more if they did sort of a quantum leap kind of sci-fi thing with the body switching. That would have made the movie a bit more of an easier pill to swallow. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/19/24 Full Review Scott S The over-the-top campy performances from Cage and Travolta aren't nearly enough to overcome the mind-numbingly stupid plot. Woo goes for broke and the actors appear to be enjoying themselves, but I could never get interested in this silly, unnecessary, eye-roll-inducing film. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 10/14/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Face/Off

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Cast & Crew

Face/Off

Face/Off: Official Clip - I Am the King Face/Off: Official Clip - I Am the King 2:12 Face/Off: Official Clip - Prison Escape Face/Off: Official Clip - Prison Escape 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - It's Like Looking in a Mirror Face/Off: Official Clip - It's Like Looking in a Mirror 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - Let's Just Kill Each Other Face/Off: Official Clip - Let's Just Kill Each Other 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - We Both Know Our Guns Face/Off: Official Clip - We Both Know Our Guns 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - Speedboat Chase Face/Off: Official Clip - Speedboat Chase 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - Crashing the Plane Face/Off: Official Clip - Crashing the Plane 2:12 Face/Off: Official Clip - What a Predicament Face/Off: Official Clip - What a Predicament 2:13 Face/Off: Official Clip - This is Turning into a Real Marriage Face/Off: Official Clip - This is Turning into a Real Marriage 2:13 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Obsessed with bringing terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) to justice, FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) tracks down Troy, who has boarded a plane in Los Angeles. After the plane crashes and Troy is severely injured, possibly dead, Archer undergoes surgery to remove his face and replace it with Troy's. As Archer tries to use his disguise to elicit information about a bomb from Troy's brother, Troy awakes from a coma and forces the doctor who performed the surgery to give him Archer's face.
Director
John Woo
Producer
Terence Chang, David Permut, Barrie M. Osborne
Screenwriter
Mike Werb, Michael Colleary
Distributor
Paramount Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures
Production Co
Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 27, 1997, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$112.3M
Runtime
2h 18m
Sound Mix
Surround
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