Face/Off – Kino Lorber (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1997
Director: John Woo
Writers: Mike Werb, Michael Colleary
Cast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, John Carroll Lynch, CCH Pounder

Release Date: December 12th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 138 Minutes 55 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English, DTS-HD Stereo English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.95

"FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta) knows how to stop elusive terrorist Castor Troy (Cage). He’ll become him. Archer undergoes a futuristic surgery and has Troy’s face mapped onto his, then infiltrates the terrorist’s world to discover his deadly secrets. But as much as Archer looks and acts like Troy, he doesn’t really know him. He never figures Troy will retaliate and force doctors to transform him into Archer. Now the agent faces a shattering nightmare: his archrival is living with his family." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.75/5 (4K UHD), 4.25/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "From a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative".

Face/Off comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 91.6 GB

Feature: 90.3 GB

The source looks excellent, and the image always looks organic. Colors are nicely saturated; contrast and black levels are solid. That said, this release has two issues of note. In the last five minutes, the color space has shifted, making flesh tones appear more red than normal. And there are some minor compression-related issues that most viewers will not be bothered by.

Face/Off comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.2 GB

Feature: 29.7 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source as the 4K UHD does for its transfer.

Audio: 5/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 English, DTS-HD Stereo English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a DTS-HD stereo mix in English. Both of these audio tracks sound excellent. Dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Ambient sounds are well-represented, and both audio tracks sound outstanding range-wise. That said, I would give the edge to the DTS-HD 5.1 audio track. Included are removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD include an archival audio commentary with director John Woo and screenwriters Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, an archival audio commentary with Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and an audio commentary with action film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include a theatrical trailer for Face/Off (2 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), seven deleted and alternate scenes: Castor Kills the Janitor (36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), Archer Weeps (1 minute 9 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), Childhood Lessons (1 minute 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), Hideaway Shootout (2 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), Archer vs. Castor Finale (2 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), Will Dad be Dad Again? (11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), and Alternate Ending (1 minute 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles, with optional audio commentary with John Woo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary), an archival featurette titled Science Fiction/Human Emotion (9 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Casting/Characters (17 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Woo/Hollywood (21 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Practical/Visual Effects (9 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled Science Fiction/Human Emotion (5 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette titled John Woo: A Life in Pictures (26 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary with John Wo, Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, an archival audio commentary with Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and an audio commentary with action film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. 

Other extras on the Blu-ray disc are trailers for Hard Target, Staying Alive, The Experts, Fire Birds, Ronin, Out of Sight, and The Usual Suspects.

Other extras include reversible cover art and a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

Directed by John Woo, who is most known for his heroic bloodshed films. Notable films directed by John Woo include A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, and Hard Boiled.

An FBI agent assumes the identity of a comatose criminal by switching faces with them via a face transplant.

Though there have been films based on history or films that want to retain a gritty realism about them, cinema, at its core, is about escapism. Then there are films like Face/Off, which takes escapism to another level. And nowhere is this clearer than when it comes to Face/Off’s out-of-this-world premise.

That said, in lesser hands, a film like Face/Off would not be as effective. When it comes to action sequences, John Woo is one of the most celebrated filmmakers to ever work in the medium. And yet, he often gives careful attention to fleshing out his characters.

Though casting is important, it plays a monumental role in Face/Off. It is a film that requires two actors to portray two characters convincingly. And in order to do this, each actor has to mimic the other's performance.

Cast in the roles of the two main characters, FBI agent Sean Archer and mastermind criminal Castor Troy, are John Travolta (Pulp Fiction) and Nicolas Cage (Wild at Heart). That said, you could not ask for better performances, as they perfectly mimic each other.

This is a John Woo film, so you know that there are going to be bombastic action sequences. A few standout action set pieces are: a scene where the FBI goes in guns blazing into the home of one of Castor Troy’s associates. This scene, like many of John Woo’s most famous action sequences, effectively uses a piece of music, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, as bullets and explosions engulf characters. And when it comes to Mexican standoffs, no one does them better than John Woo. Face/Off has a phenomenal Mexican standoff inside a church.

From a production standpoint, Face/Off is John Woo’s most satisfying Hollywood film. He does a superb job landing an outrageous premise, and the narrative does a fantastic job building momentum towards a sensational finale. Another strength is John Woo’s knack for creating tense moments that climax at the right moment. Ultimately, more than any of John Woo’s other Hollywood films, Face/Off finds that perfect balance between his style and Hollywood cinema.

Kino Lorber gives Face/Off its best home video release to date, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer