Face/Off 1997

Critics score:
92 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: In Face/Off, Woo sweeps us away again, into a world of wild action, heroism, villainy and double faces that turn deadly. Read more

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: Face/Off is the best action movie of the summer. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's difficult to describe the jolt his films deliver when [Woo]'s on, and he is on with a vengeance here. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: It's sick, slick and sensational. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: For all its fiery explosions, Face/Off just kind of implodes. Read more

Keith Simanton, Seattle Times: Face/Off is a full-blooded, movie-going experience. It's 100 percent movie. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Here comes a mega-movie that actually delivers what mega-movies promise... Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: [A] gorgeously shot, repetitively violent, occasionally repellent, sometimes silly and consistently trashy fantasy. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: A dizzying, beautiful ride. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: I won't pretend that I completely enjoyed it, but it certainly has a few elements that I've never seen before. Action aficionados will undoubtedly slobber all over themselves. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Face/Off makes bad movies look worse and makes the making of good movies look like the most thrilling work in the world. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: John Woo's Face/Off puts the acting into action flick... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Capable of moments of rare cinematic perfection Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: You see what thickets this plot constructs; it's as if Travolta adds the spin courtesy of Cage's personality, while Cage mellows in the direction of Travolta. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Florid, passionate, frequently hilarious and loaded with messy emotions that nobody in his or her right mind should even attempt to explain, it's operatic in its nutball intensity. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: A knockout new thriller by John Woo. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: With Face/Off, John Woo, the Hong Kong auteur (The Killer, Hard Boiled), has made his smartest, wildest, positively Woo-siest American thriller. Read more

Tom Charity, Time Out: Woo's poetic-kinetic style has evolved, if not to the point of abstraction, then to delirium: he makes a virtue of incredulity. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Watching John Travolta and Nicolas Cage square off and literally exchange roles brings back the old-fashioned pleasure of astutely judged movie star pairings in a major way. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Face/Off, John Woo's third Hollywood movie, is the maddest, most enjoyable blockbuster of the summer. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Almost indefensibly violent, the film is one of those whirligigs of wit, barbaric energy, blood spatters and firepower that will be adored by the morally retarded among us -- like me -- and loathed by the morally superior. Read more