User reviews

Plenty of action yes, of the 1000 bullets per second with no-one getting hurt variety, but a laughable plot. Cage's face is removed and grafted onto Travolta; Travolta's original face is then saved for replacing at the end of his mission. Obviously the face would be locked away somewhere safe and out of harm's way? No, when Cage unexpectedly comes around he gets out of bed, looks through the window, and there, in the room right next to him and in a brightly illuminated jar is Travolta's face! At this point I watched the video for a little longer to see if it could get any more ridiculous and when it started to, I turned it off.

One of the worst films I have seen in a long time.

What a crap movie ! One flaw after the other. I wonder what the makers of such movies think about us.This movie is an insult to our intelligence.. Of course it would be a feast to the eyes who love the bombs exploding, planes crashing, buildings blowing and other kinds of unimaginable dross stuff. I don't really mind these if there is a semblance of reality in all the action scenes. But unfortunately that is not the case here. It appalls me that the makers dint realize the quality of their movie while making it. They invest millions of dollars in such BS stuff.

As far the acting is concerned, the lesser i say the better. Cage cannot act to save his life.Clearly he remains the most unimpressive mainstream actor in Hollywood to me. Travolta is no better either. Overall this is really a pathetic movie..

And it is so so so overrated in IMDB...7.3 r u kidding ?

it deserves a 3.7 !

1/10..I regret having watched this movie..I simply couldn't wait it to end..Thankgod i watched it in TV with the usual commercial breaks which gave me some respite.

Well Face Off--------"Beep" Off

I rank this movie as one of the most awful things I have ever seen. Not only is it totally unbelievable, but the situations are so unpleasent, so cloying, so awful, that its more like a nightmare that just won't end. And when I say "won't end," I mean it. This movie drags on way past the comfort level. It keeps going from one improbable situation to another, linked by flashy chase scenes, until you're begging for some kind of resolution.

The acting of Nick Cage and John Travolta are just about what you would expect -- that is to say totally over-the-top. Chewing on the scenery is a polite term for what they do.

As for the talents of John Woo, well I've heard all about his "violence as opera" philosophy of film-making, but I just don't buy it. Every movie I've seen of his isn't scary, or exciting, or shocking -- its uncomfortable, like sitting on a sharp spike.

I saw this movie years ago in the theatre, but it still sticks with me -- I guess that should say something about its power, but years ago, I saw a dead deer sitting by the side of the road. It was rotting in the heat, its muscles had contracted, it smelled awful and it looked alot like a mummy -- that experience stuck with me too. Seeing "Face/Off" was alot like seeing that deer: unpleasent, nauseating, and unnecessary.

Oh dear. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that 'character IS action'. I wonder what he may have said on seeing this film? My suspicions were first aroused within the first 7 seconds of the film in which John Travolta is simpering on a fairground ride with a child with a haircut so bad that he simply had to be American. When the poor 'bowl cut' blighter was blown away by Nicholas Cage (with seemingly an enormous caterpillar on his upper lip), I began to think that I was in trouble. To say that these characters were one dimensional would be to insult, well, one dimension. They blunder around talking lines that truly no-one in the whole world would ever say outside of an action movie.

To think that John Woo has come to this, he made superlative action movies in Hong Kong but the rubbish that he makes in the US is in danger of making us forget all that. There are many of the trademark Woo incidents, people leaping diagonally through the air with a gun in each hand (and always in each hand, I wonder if it is a John Woo fantasy for us to discover a species which has 3 arms, my my, we would have a veritable arms race then!), gunfights in churches etc etc. The subtleties that do appear in his HK films are simply lost here under a welter of bullets, bad acting and a simply woeful script. Yes, some of the stunts are very good, but how many times can you see a stunt and be amazed, by and large they are merely variations on the same theme. Remove them and what are you left with? Really, really bad acting by John Travolta and a performance by Nicholas Cage that makes me think that he felt like buying a new swimming pool when this script turned up. I was little surprised by Travolta ('Battlefield Earth' anyone?) but could this really be the same Cage from 'Leaving Las Vegas'?.

Luckily the picture failed on my copy for the last 3 minutes so I was spared Travolta getting his own face back, re-uniting with his lovely (Doctor) wife, connecting with his once wild daughter and now taking over the upbringing of Cage's son (who incidentally also had a very bad, bowl type american brat haircut). If only i had lost the sound as well then maybe I wouldn't have been left wincing with utter agony as much as I did.

I only wish that I could give this utter trash -1000000000000000 let alone only 1. A film for those who see Hollywood action films as the zenith, the apotheosis of entertainment.

Apparently I missed something watching this flick. Perhaps entertainment? Plausibility? Humour? Thrills? Enjoyment?

Face/Off is in my top ten of all-time worst movies, and here's why:

The Acting: Hammy, overdone. Nick Cage looks plain idiotic in the prison scenes. John Revolta goes overboard...again.

The Script: More holes than a block of fine aged Swiss. "I'm Castor Troy!!" is perhaps the most ridiculous line muttered on celluloid.

The Director: John Woo hasn't had an original idea since "The Killer". If I see the overused two-gun-slow-motion-rolling-and-jumping stuff anymore, I'm going to scream.

That Face Touching Thing: Waaaaay overused. I have never seen a family so occupied with running their hands over other people's faces. Yeah, I get the whole 'face' thread in the movie....stop ramming it down my throat.

Ugh...I could go on and on, but what's the point? If you appreciated even decent cinema, steer clear of this clunker.

Travolta, Cage and Allen deserve purple hearts for the wounds inflicted trying to save this DOG. It was an utter disaster; plot, script, direction, continuity, even stunts...all bad beyond belief. Woo completely misses any elements that make action movies worthwhile. It was a series of bad comic book panels tied together with nothing. I cannot recall a mass-audience movie that is any worse than this

If I were an actor, my one rule of career management would be to avoid starring in any movie that also starred Nicolas Cage, as it's bound to royally suck.

"Face/Off" is horrible. It takes an outlandish premise to begin with but stretches it to the point that no human being with the ability to think could possibly tolerate it. The writers could have made SOME attempt at establishing some believability even with the far out premise, but everyone involved in the film's production was too lazy to bother.

And this is one film that gets so violent that it stops being fun (not that it's ever much fun to begin with).

Grade: F

This is probably the second worst film I have ever seen.

I mean, I saw it expecting something on a par with Woo's previous film, Broken Arrow, which I loved. What I got was a boring mess of explosions, people with their faces being cut off, and a child being shot in the head. I don't understand what it is all these people like about this movie. The thought of someone having their face removed made me feel sick to my stomach, and what made it worse was that he consented to it. And how was Archer able to live with himself after taking Troy's son into his family and basically forgetting about his son?

See it if you wish, but it does NOT get my recommendation at all!!!

I never bothered seeing this movie, because I could tell by the previews it was horrible. I just saw it tonight, though, because it was on somewhere I was forced to be. It lived up to my pre-judgement of it and more. I thought the plot idea was ridiculous to an unvelievable degree, but it was actually outdone and rendered rather tame by the absolutely-no, obscenely-farcical `action' scenes. There's really no need to go into specifics. The movie started out horribly-with a ridiculous fight scene-and just got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse. No redeeming qualities what-so-ever.

I've seen worse movies…but for star-power and big-budget, major studio films, I think this has got to be the worst.

Terrible film only enjoyable as a comedy. Dialogue so bad how was it ever written. Over the top action, with super corny slow motion. A plot so dumb and unbelievable stupid. Watch it for the over the top acting it's hilarious.

I thought this was sadistic crap. What a waste of money and poor Joan Allen! She looked out of place in this movie. If you all think this is a classic movie, I am in the wrong reality.

In a statement, where is the option for a 0 vote? If you were to spend more money, more time re-writing, more casting corrections and more target marketing, you still couldn't save this piece of rubbish film. If I was supposed to laugh then I wet myself but I don't think that was the idea.

The most stupid movie I've ever watched. So so stupid, omg I can't believe what I just watched wtf.

'Face/Off' is a film about a secret agent who has had his face swapped with another man's: a terrorist/criminal. Now, based on that information, you pretty much know what is going to happen in the film. The only thing that this movie has going for it is violence and an attempt to come up with a new idea. I will admit, the idea of swapping identies is kind of cool. However, this film does not get anymore original than that. It is all about the violence and people getting killed and things blowing up and major showdowns between characters. That's really all there is to it. If you're of the male gender, then you may go for this sort of film. If you prefer films that make you think, then I suggest looking elsewhere because there is little to be gained in this film.

This film defies description. How it made into production with major Hollywood names in and behind it is beyond comprehension. I couldn't begin to list its faults. Even if we suspend disbelief enough to allow for a "revolutionary" procedure in which a doctor transplants a face (complete with the eyes -- reattaching the optic nerve, I suppose -- teeth, jaw/cheek bones, and vocal chords, et al, though leave no scars, how can we believe that a wife would forget what her husband's body looked and felt like. The absurdities are only to be out done by the action film clichés: A staggering number of bullets fly between the main characters, yet somehow none of them fail to connect -- over and over again. Car and boat chases, fireball explosions, diving/falling through glass, on and on... it never seems to end.

The crack-induced ramblings of a demented gun freak. At first I thought this was one of the greatest comedies ever made, we laughed and laughed and laughed some more, when Nicolas Cage found a face handily lying in a glass jar by his bed I almost s**t myself, then we realised it was meant not as a slapstick comedy but as a serious thriller. Travolta incestuously lusting after his own daughter was not only repulsive but must have given the red-light to many a sicko. No wonder Americans seem to be executed in large numbers by their fellow countrymen as in this the peace officer seemed to fell with alacrity prison officers, cops, FBI men and the Peace Corp without any comeback. Have Big Gun Will Travel.

The most contrived piece of crap to come down the pike in a long time--premise, plot, dialog, you name it. It's as if every hackneyed "cops-'n'-robbers" thematic device ever conceived was tossed into a hat, then plucked out and patched in helter-skelter--I don't think a single one was missed...and that's just in the first fifteen minutes.

And "Castor and Pollux Troy"? What the hell were the writers thinking? Or more to the point, what were they smoking

The most amazing thing is that this celluloid dungpile seems to have been well-received! If IMDb's "Viewers' Reviews" is to be believed, that is. Oh, well; I guess if nothing else, Woo's re-established the old Menckenian axiom: "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people".

Nasty, trite, unintelligent without any redeeming features. Macho, gung-ho, badly scripted, entirely two dimensional, American dream preaching rubbish.

No, I didn't like it.

0/10

Possibly the worst film I have ever had the mis-fortune of watching. Had to give it 1 just to see if I was right about every single cliche appearing in this film.It's dire. The plot is see through, the special effects are frankly just over budget fire works and though the whole concept is obviously fanciful the execution is utterly utterly ridiculous. Every cliche is here! How can an army of FBI agents miss two people but all manage to get shot by apparent fireworks!. Does John Woo realise that guns have bullets in them and not rockets. Does he also realise that you don't have to have every special effect available just because it is available! Utter drivel!!!!

I can't argue with the action sequences, which considering the genre of movie perhaps should make me rate it higher.

However, our society has evolved too much to allow ridiculous story lines like this to exist. The majority of reviewers gave this high marks, and I suspect a conspiracy. Either that or everyone else drank a gallon of cough syrup before seeing the film.

The acting was horrible, the plot twists could be seen a mile away, and the ending dragged on for an eternity. Getting beaten in the head while driving a speed boat is a little far fetched, only to leap back into action after a much-needed four seconds of rest.

Someone hits you in the head, you typically fall down. Someone should let John Woo know about this little medical fact.

I want my money back.

The only thing more ridiculous than the idiotic plot was Travolta's constant overacting. I spent the entire movie rolling my eyes as the "plot" came up with more and more contrived ways to let Travolta play the insane guy. And the ending....John Woo should be ashamed of himself, what a total waste of time.

(1/10)