Review of Face/Off

Introduction

You may have watched this film on TV over the festive season. And if you enjoyed it, you might be thinking of investing in the DVD so that you can watch it again at your leisure. I`m going to warn you now, don`t buy this DVD. It is a flipper (a double sided disc) which means that you have to get up in the middle of the film (just after one of those high-octane action sequences) and turn the disc over to continue watching. And that`s bad. So bad that I`ll probably repeat this warning in the overall opinion section just to make sure it gets through.

Ok, on with the review. Face/Off seems to have all of the right ingredients. A great action director (John Woo), two very watchable actors (Cage & Travolta), lots of guns, hails of bullets, plenty of slow-mo leaping around and a high-tech, race against time style plot. It does lose itself now and then, and the whole idea of swapping faces is utterly ludicrous, but it`s a film, and it`s fun, so you let it pass.

Video

An anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer, which looks good, but not great, with some scratches and grain abound. As other reviewers have commented, it does seem like someone sent over a slightly battered print when the DVD was being knocked up. But at least you get to see more of it that you would have done on the telly.

Audio

A DD5.1 transfer is on offer, and is just what the doctor ordered for a big action film like this. Plenty of gunfire, deep and booming explosions, bullets flying, glass shattering. Whilst not quite reference quality (see Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition DTS), there`s plenty to entertain your ears here.

Features

Extras? Are you joking? If they can`t be bothered to source the best print and put the film all on the same side of the disc, you won`t find them running around looking for good extra material.

Conclusion

I`m going to repeat my earlier warning.

If you are thinking of investing in this DVD then don`t! It`s a flipper! The overall low mark that I`ve given reflects this fact. The film itself is enjoyable enough if you overlook quite a bit of the silly plot, and the annoying "running hands down each others faces" bits (you`ll know what I mean if you`ve seen it).

And if this film had been given better treatment on DVD it would probably have sold well and gained more fans. But it`s been very shoddily treated. If you really must own this film, buy the region 1 version - it`s not much better overall (the only extras are trailers), but at least it`s not a flipper. If a Special Edition ever turns up, then invest in that instead.