(Review originally written at 12 September 2003)
Is "Face/Off" the best action movie ever made? In my opinion it is.
There are lot's of elements that make "Face/Off" different and better from other action movies. The Woo-ism is most definitely one of those elements. With Woo-ism I mean the special style John Woo always uses in his movies. Trademark John Woo style is the use of slow motion. The use of it is perfect and never overused, it certainly adds to the atmosphere and contributes to the perfectionism of the movie.
The story itself is just too ridiculous for words (even though face transplants have recently become possible) but somehow the story becomes believable. Maybe it's because of the directing or maybe it's because of the acting or maybe it's because of both. That another thing that's different from other action action movies: The acting. The cast is perfect and not just some 2nd class action star Rambo-Wannabee actors. The cast is full with big names, but the ones that steal the show are John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, they imitate each other perfect. It's certainly Nicolas Cage's best role till date.
Another great element is of course the action itself. The actions is superb and very cool! There are some really memorable scene's with of course the famous mirror scene as one of them. (Even though John Woo used it before in one of his lesser known movies; "Hard Target" with Jean-Claude Van Damme)
John Powell's musical score also adds to the movie and so does the cinematography from Oliver Wood and the editing from Steven Kemper and Christian Wagner.
I can't really name one bad thing about this movie. Everything is simply perfect, the directing, the acting, the story the sub-plots, the characters the dialog. Everything feels right!
Not just an average action movie.
10/10
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