Face/Off

1997 Directed by John Woo

In order to catch him, he must become him.

An antiterrorism agent goes under the knife to acquire the likeness of a terrorist and gather details about a bombing plot. When the terrorist escapes custody, he undergoes surgery to look like the agent so he can get close to the agent's family.

John Travolta Nicolas Cage Joan Allen Alessandro Nivola Gina Gershon Dominique Swain Nick Cassavetes Harve Presnell Colm Feore John Carroll Lynch CCH Pounder Robert Wisdom Margaret Cho James Denton Matt Ross Chris Bauer Myles Jeffrey David McCurley Thomas Jane Danny Masterson Lisa Boyle Linda Hoffman Tommy Flanagan Romy Windsor Paul Hipp Kirk Baltz Lauren Sinclair

Alternative Titles

Contracara, Face Off, 夺面双雄, Face Off 1997, Face Off - Im Körper des Feindes, Face-Off - Due Facce Di Un Assassino (1997), Cara a cara, Αδίστακτα Πρόσωπα, Volte.Face, 페이스 오프, Face∕Off

science fiction thriller crime action

139 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 1

nic cage gets punched off of a speedboat & starts barefoot skiing
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 2

90/100
Even if we do find what's over the rainbow, I doubt it's better than this.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 5

My favorite thing about this film and,
trust me, I have a lot of favorite things
about it, is that Woo actually got Travolta
to say the fine line, "Well, think about me.
This nose. This hair. This ridiculous chin."
Review by matt lynch ★★★★½ 1

"Please tell me what planet I'm on!"
planet Woo.
Review by Christian Di Leo ★★★★

john woo predicted rapey douchebag danny masterson
Review by #1 Bratz Fan ★★★★★ 1

I saw this as a cynical, shitty teenager, and hated it. Even before revisiting it, I was deeply ashamed of this fact because I knew in my heart I was wrong. I am proud of how much I have matured in the last 17 years as a viewer of cinema, and that I can now recognize Face/Off as one of the greatest films of all time.
Review by PTAbro ★★★★½ 5

My face itches...
If there was ever to be a single film that encapsulates that superficial, machismo-laden, frat-boy popcorn flick that seemed to pervade the last half of the '90s, Face/Off gets my vote as its ambassador. Along with Independence Day, the first Mission: Impossible, and countless others, a new style of blockbuster had emerged - hyper-stylized, overly-polished, and seemingly allergic to any rational thought among the characters that populate them. Underneath it all, there was a sense of almost-invincible optimism running through pre-9/11 Hollywood. The action/exploitation flicks of the late '70s and '80s were buffed to a near-blinding sheen, and while they added nothing to the idea of cinema as art, by god, but weren't they a blast.
If…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 1

"isn't this religious?"
yes. yes it is.
Review by Dan ★★★★★ 1

Nicolas Cage and John Travolta switch faces and spend almost two and a half hours trying to kill each other. This is a five star movie.
Review by Evan Eaton ★★★★ 5

Hallelujah. Not to be overly cute, but this literally split me in two. One half of me, the quieter, more sensible side perhaps, flagged up every issue I’ve ever had with this sort of zero-logic, testosterone fuelled filmmaking, from its sentimental Hollywood conclusion to the multitude of misogynistic ass-grabs (otherwise known as sexual assault), played distastefully for comic relief. What did the other half of me see? A well-oiled machine moving faster than the speed of light, one of the few action extravaganzas to match the non-stop pace of classics like Die Hard or Lethal Weapon, with a notable difference in its all-out willingness to actively defy science and sense. Plane chases, helicopter chases, car chases, boat chases, John Carroll Lynch as a…
Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★ 2

Face/Off is two hours and nineteen minutes long.
Was thinking this might be the first action film of the 21st Century. But no, it's the last action film of the 1990s.
Review by ellie ✨ ½ 5

nicolas cage saying "I could eat a peach for hours" seductively is the worst possible thing I could've heard in a post-cmbyn world

Recent reviews

Review by Jessica Carr ★★★★½

So, the thing is that this movie looks v dumb on paper and probably when you speak the plot out loud BUT somehow this shit works and it slaps so hard. Both Cage and Travolta do the damn thing. Seriously, their hatred for each other is electric. The dialogue can be so dumb but also hilarious? Also, John Woo's camera work and the action shots are *chef kisses fingers* So I'm here to tell you that this movie is kind of a masterpiece. And Margaret Cho is an Asian female side character that actually has depth and does shit so haaaaaaa
Review by alejjjandrrro

this is one of the more bonkers movie i’ve ever seen. zero attempt at realism. not even a faint brush with verisimilitude. it’s fun!
Review by Cara Stock ★★★

a movie that is so bizarre, it’s actually pretty good ...
Review by gabrielle ★★

ok girl we’re still gonna need a top though
Review by cameron bradford ★★★★

Absolute weirdest part of this movie is how everyone in John Travolta's family greet each other by running a hand down their face
Review by Mike aka Pope aka Shoeless Joe Jackson ★★★½

A wonderfully ridiculous movie about exactly what the title says. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are perfectly casted, they aren't so serious that it makes the movie look totally dumb, but not so silly that the movie can't stand on its own. Despite having plot holes in pretty much every scene, the film walks the line of ridiculousness and great action to produce something that is wholly entertaining.
Review by F00P0 ★★★★½

Cheesy, but in a good 90s way. Action and violence never grow old.
Review by jenverine ★★★

if you google top 10 nicholas cage meme this movie will come out as the first search
Review by ISpeakChinese ★★★★

Trial by combat wife
Review by Crono ★★★★★ 2

only watched half because i was busy but it's a banger
Review by RaquelyRaquel ★★★★ 5

I have no idea how I should describe the quality of this movie, all I know is I laughed my face off. Sorry.
Review by Connor Swenson ★★★★½

I can't call this bad. It's not. It never was. It was always good. It always will be. This is fact. I can't fuckfig belvpwef