Face/Off (1997) John Travolta Sean Archer Nicolas Cage Castor Troy Joan Allen Eve Archer Alessandro Nivola Pollux Troy Gina Gershon Sasha Hassler Dominique Swain Jamie Archer Nick Cassavetes Dietrich Hassler Harve Presnell Lazzaro Colm Feore Dr Malcolm Walsh John Carroll Lynch Prison Guard Walton CCH Pounder Hollis Miller Robert Wisdom Tito Margaret Cho Wanda James Denton Buzz Matt Ross Loomis Directed by: John Woo, Billy Burton Produced by: Jonathan D. Krane, Michael Douglas, Steven Reuther An FBI covert terrorism expert, through advanced plastic surgery, assumes the identity of his arch-nemesis, a sadistic terrorist. Things get complicated when the terrorist awakens from surgery, faceless, and forces the doctors to attach the FBI agent's face. Both characters then carry out one another's lives in a game of cat-and-mouse--the FBI agent pretends to be the terrorist while trying to locate and dismantle a nuclear weapon, while the terrorist assumes the role of FBI agent and family man. ========== Sean Archer, a very tough, rugged FBI Agent. Who is still grieving for the dead son Michael. Archer believes that his son's killer is his sworn enemy, a very powerful criminal, Castor Troy. One day, Archer has finally cornered Castor, however, their fight has knocked out Troy cold. As Archer finally breathes easy over the capture of his enemy, he finds out that Troy has planted a bomb that will destroy the entire city of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants. Unfortunately the only other person who knows its location is Castor's brother Pollux, and he refuses to talk. The solution, a special operation doctor that can cut off people's faces, and can place a person's face onto another person. Archer undergoes one of those surgeries to talk to Pollux. However, Castor Troy somehow regains consciousness and now wants revenge on Archer for taking his face. Not only is Troy ruining Archer's mission. ========== The third of John Woo's American-made feature films, Face/Off stars John Travolta as Sean Archer, an FBI agent obsessed with capturing Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage), a criminal genius who years before killed Archer's son while trying to assassinate the agent. Archer's single-minded pursuit of Troy has caused serious harm to his marriage, but Archer thinks the light may have appeared at the end of the tunnel when a seriously wounded Troy is captured in a bloody shootout. However, it turns out that Troy has planted a time bomb, with a biological payload that could destroy the entire city of Los Angeles -- and Troy isn't about to say where it is. The only other person who knows the bomb's location is Troy's brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola), who is no more helpful than Castor. FBI scientists hatch a plan: they have developed an experimental surgery which would allow them to graft Troy's face temporarily on Archer's head and allow him to question Pollux as if he were his brother. But after Archer has taken Troy's face, Troy regains consciousness and forces the doctors to give him Archer's face. Now the criminal mastermind has the FBI at his disposal, and the lawman is underground with few places to turn. Along with Woo's usual elaborately choreographed action scenes, Face/Off features a number of notable supporting performances, including Joan Allen as Archer's wife, Colm Feore and C.C.H. Pounder as FBI scientists, and Gina Gershon as Troy's loyal but long-suffering girlfriend.