Face/Off: Special Edition (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Featurette-Action Overload Biographies-Cast
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	133:19 (Case: 139)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (79:35)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	John Woo
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	John Travolta Nicolas Cage Joan Allen Gina Gershon Alessandro Nivola
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	John Powell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired French Italian German German for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Icelandic Portuguese Estonian	Smoking	Yes, occasionally
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, mildly
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In the mid-1990s, another popular foreign director made his way over to America in order to get his name on some big productions and, hopefully, earn a few dollars in the process. That director goes by the name of John Woo, and his first English-language film was Hard Target, which is hardly what one would call an inspiring start to a new career. Still, after another couple of attempts, he created Face/Off, a memorable piece of work that one IMDB user eloquently describes as being the "greatest action movie ever made, period". I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment, although I would put the word "Hollywood" between the first two words of that statement. Still, given that Hollywood has churned out some memorable pieces of action in its time, that's the kind of endorsement I look for when choosing an evening's visual entertainment.

    The film begins with Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) getting ready to assassinate Sean Archer (John Travolta), which is a rather callous thing to do when your target is riding on a merry-go-round with his son, Michael (Myles Jeffrey). When Castor takes his shot, he manages to hit Sean in the chest, but the bullet passes through and hits Michael, killing the five-year-old boy and leaving a father with a wound that would normally never heal. From there, we fast forward several years to a time when Castor and his brother, Pollux (Alessandro Nivola) plant a bomb in what looks like a busy shopping centre within Los Angeles. Shortly after this, Sean and his fellow agents at a special service branch attempt to arrest the Troy brothers while they are attempting to fly out of the city, a stunt that leaves six agents dead, and Castor in a deep coma.

    The problem is that Pollux won't talk to anyone besides his brother about the location of the bomb, and the suggestion is made to Sean that he assume Castor's identity via some exceptionally radical surgical procedures. Sean does this, thinking that he can quietly go into the prison and get the information he needs from Pollux, but things go badly awry when Castor awakens with his face missing and a real axe to grind. Soon, while Sean is escaping from a high-tech prison and acquainting himself with Castor's old accomplices, the most important being Sasha Hassler (Gina Gershon), Castor is cavorting with Sean's wife, Eve (Joan Allen), and his daughter, Jamie (Dominique Swain). The question is whether Sean can bring Castor to the justice that Castor deserves, and get his own face back in the bargain.

    Those expecting a standard action film will be quite surprised by the twists and turns that this one takes, and there is a certain depth to it that also works well in its favour. Even when characters die within minutes of being introduced, the film somehow makes viewers care about them, and there definitely isn't any such thing as an easy death here. The special effects used to swap faces, and in some cases to make Nicholas Cage's voice come out of John Travolta's mouth, or vice-versa, are still strong today. The action sequences are amazingly effective, and the climactic sequence in particular is the single most effective chase since the original Mad Max, making this a must-have as far as action films go.

Video

    Again, we are dealing with a film that Buena Vista have decided to remaster, presumably due to complaints from local consumers about the original flipper formatting. This new transfer is quite stunning, even without the benefit of comparison to its predecessor.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it is 16x9 Enhanced.

    This transfer is sharp, so sharp in fact that it makes me sad that not everyone has made the leap into the DVD-Video era, because it simply looks that stunning. The shadow detail is excellent, with plenty of subtle graduations between light and dark in the numerous night-time and low-lit sequences of the film. There is no low-level noise to spoil these rich blacks, either.

    The colours of this film vary between a sort of bright but limited palette in the scenes that take place in outdoor locations, to being quite cold and metallic in the prison sequences. The transfer captures these schemes without missing a beat, and it shows no sign of bleeding or composite artefacts.

    MPEG artefacts were not noticed in this transfer, with the overall image having a very smooth and natural look to it, which is something we can thank the RSDL formatting for. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of a few noticeable instances of aliasing, the worst of which was on the chrome on the side of a car at 114:03. While aliasing was more abundant in this transfer than the last Buena Vista transfer I looked at (Starship Troopers), it was usually just as hard to spot. Film artefacts consisted of a few sizeable marks and hairs on the picture, none of which were truly intrusive, and a slight peppering of smaller white marks through most of the feature.

    The English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are generally quite accurate to the spoken dialogue, almost being word-for-word all the time, but their placement is quite intrusive. Instrumental music is often accompanied by a pair of notes at the top of the picture, which is somewhat distracting.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, with the layer change taking place during Chapter 25, at 79:35. This is just after Nicolas Cage's infamous dialogue about taking Sean Archer's face off, and while it is quite noticeable, it does not interrupt the flow of the film too badly.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Matching a video transfer that is a real pleasure to look at is an audio transfer that will demonstrate to friends and family why you invested in a Dolby Digital 5.1 capable receiver.

    There are four soundtracks on this DVD, the first three of which are in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a bitrate of 384 kilobits per second. These are the original English dialogue, a German dub, and a Spanish dub, with a Russian Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded 192 kilobit per second soundtrack for good measure. I listened to the English dialogue.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, with none of the usual variances in volume or mumblings to get in the way. There were no problems with audio sync, either. Brief but noticeable pops were heard in the English soundtrack at 13:47, 44:28, and 96:19, which were somewhat distressing because the soundtrack is otherwise of near reference quality.

    The score music in this film is credited to John Powell, and an interesting effort it is, too. The music in a lot of scenes tends to emphasise the more dramatic and emotional subtexts of scenes, such as when the combatants are dealing with certain losses. There are also a number of cues that really get the blood flowing, but the slower, more dramatic ones tend to stand out more. A small amount of contemporary numbers can be heard in this film, but like most contemporary numbers, they are quickly forgotten.

    The surround channels are used quite aggressively at times by this soundtrack, although the usage tends to be somewhat restricted to action sequences or special effects sequences. One of the quieter sequences where the surround channels got a workout came at 38:43, when the voice of the warden can be heard reverberating around the prison walls. The other really notable use of the surround channels starts with the gun battle at 114:03, which continues for an extended period of time. The amount of effects with bullets whizzing around the sound field will keep your Dolby Digital decoder working overtime, I can assure you of that much.

    The subwoofer had a whale of a time supporting the sounds of guns, music, crashing planes, crashing boats, magnetic boots hitting a steel floor, and numerous other effects that are scattered about the film with abandon. It supported all of these things and more without making itself conspicuous, which is quite a feat in and of itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A rather scant collection of extras, but what the hey, it's all about the film.

Menu

    The menu is animated with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, and it is 16x9 Enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer

    A very unusual two-minute theatrical trailer in which John Travolta, in character, explains the central premise of the film before we are treated to a cavalcade of action sequence snippets. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, and it is not 16x9 Enhanced.

Featurette - Action Overload

    This is merely a one-minute collection of pieces from the action sequences of this film, presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. It is not 16x9 Enhanced.

Cast Biographies

    Biographies for John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, and Alessandro Nivola are presented under this menu. Interestingly, John Travolta and Nicolas Cage have their two-page biographies split into different menu options labelled with Good Guy and Bad Guy in brackets beside them. All of the other biographies, save for that of Alessandro Nivola, are two pages in length, but the second pages of Joan Allen's and Gina Gershon's biographies can only be accessed from the first.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Higher-bitrate (448 Kb/s) English Dolby Digital soundtrack
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded dub

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Featurette - Action Overload
• Cast Biographies

    There is no compelling difference that makes me recommend the Region 1 version over the Region 4 version.

    Face/Off is an innovative idea for an action film that is executed in an inspired manner, although the slower, more reflective moments tend to grate on repeat viewings. I personally have no hesitation in recommending it for a night's entertainment, or even several nights worth of entertainment, although I would tend to space my viewings out a little.

    The video transfer is excellent.

    The audio transfer is excellent.

    The extras are somewhat spartan.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall