dvd on tap: Face/Off [John Woo]

Quite the novel approach for an action film when it came out in 1997, this was John Woo's coming-out party in the pantheon of Hollywood action movies (Hard Target and Broken Arrow don't count). Basically, you had FBI Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) going after terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) - a personal vendetta for Archer for the death of his son. Then even after Troy is incapacitated, Archer has to go undercover to find a chemical bomb planted in L.A.- by exchanging faces with Troy via a revolutionary medical procedure. Problem is, Troy comes out of his coma, figures the whole scheme out and takes Archer's place. And you think you got problems. Cage and Travolta are at their sneering best here, demonstrating their ability to play 3D villainous types (not to mention they had to play both character roles in their own way). The only thing that bugs me here (puh-leaze! this is an action movie. duh.)is the casting of Joan Allen as Archer's wife. She plays the role right, but she doesn't look right. Well anyway, that's not as important as the Hong Kong action style, ballerina gunplay, the white doves, the visual poetry - the elements that Woo made his - and so well at that. Which makes this near the top of my list of favorite action fodder.

"Who do ya got? Patricia Arquette? Lisa Marie Presley?? I got KELLY PRESTON. Eat that."