Face/Off

Dir: John Woo
Scrs: Mike Werb, Michael Colleary
Prods: David Permut, Barrie M. Osborne, Terence Chang, Christopher Godsick
Prod Cos: Touchstone Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Cast: John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Alessandro Nivola
1997 | Colour | Blu-ray | English | Chinese Subtitles | 138min

John Woo’s career took a drastic turn after completing Hard Boiled (1992), looking towards Hollywood. And Terence Chang devoted himself to helping Woo in that effort. Woo first directed Hard Target (1993), followed by Broken Arrow (1996). Chang served as co-producer and producer respectively, learning on the job how to navigate the complicated system of Hollywood studios. Broken Arrow did well at the box office acclaim and, after being invited by influential actor-producer Michael Douglas to join Paramount Pictures with promises of more creative freedom, Woo embarked on the sci-fi action thriller Face/Off. Chang worked side-by-side with the director, starting a new chapter of their Hollywood careers.

The story is about an FBI agent (John Travolta) who somehow has his face exchanged with a terrorist (Nicolas Cage). With the change in faces, rules of the cops-and-robbers game are turned on their heads...Except for the necessary face-change plot, Woo is not interested in the sci-fi elements, focussing instead on the themes of family values and human nature. And with better creative control, he wallows in the stylised action staging and slow-motion shots that are his signature, his command of storytelling and rapport with actors more assured and natural. The ‘bromance’ between hero and villain and the blurring of the line between good and evil not only harken back to his Hong Kong work but also take on new significance. Moments like the face-off between the two lead characters and the little boy listening to ‘Over the Rainbow’ in the middle of a gunfight are lyrical manifestations of romanticism and emotional purity in the face of violence and danger. The film went on to enjoy critical and commercial success in the US and Hong Kong, becoming a signature work of the hard-boiled partnership of Chang and Woo as well as an emblem of their work in Hollywood.

© 1997 Touchstone Pictures. All rights reserved.

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