In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes up prematurely and seeks revenge.
Direction
John Woo's religious gun worship and dove fetish on full display
Acting
Both leads playing each other playing themselves — unhinged
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI face-swap tension, all prosthetics and pure commitment
Director
John Woo
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
Victor Lazarro
Colm Feore
Dr. Malcolm Walsh
John Carroll Lynch
Prison Guard Walton
CCH Pounder
Hollis Miller
Robert Wisdom
Tito Biondi
Margaret Cho
Wanda
James Denton
Buzz
Matt Ross
Loomis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The face-off surgery scene used no CGI — all practical effects with Travolta and Cage studying each other's mannerisms for months.
This was Woo's American masterpiece, taking his Hong Kong 'heroic bloodshed' style and dialing it to absurd Hollywood extremes — the bridge between hardboiled Asian action and Michael Bay excess.
US
