FACE/OFF (1997) - July 11, 2009
An above-average action film about a dedicated special agent who trades faces with a dangerous criminal (his arch-nemesis, who six years earlier killed his son) in order to get information about a bomb. There's nothing subtle about this movie, from the explosive, slow-mo filled action sequences to the emotional moments (which sort of feel like a slightly dialed down version of the over-the-top melodrama you find in many Chinese films). The movie features pretty much element that John Woo has become known for -- the elaborately choreographed gun-fights, the slow-mo, the dives with two guns blazing, the Mexican standoffs, the doves -- but it never really feels like all these elements are crammed in for their own sake. Somehow, despite the melodrama and the dialed-to-eleven action sequences -- either of which could have been a deal-killer under a lesser director -- it all really works, and is definitely John Woo's best American film. ***1/2
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