90's Movie Double Header - Face/Off and Glengarry Glen Ross

The business of school has generally kept me away from writing here once again. However, I was lucky to be blessed with a pretty low stress exam period. With only two written exams during this period (followed by two written papers) I found myself with a little more time on my hands than usual so I decided to indulge myself in some good classic 90's movies. Little did I know that this would turn into a double header of two of the classic movies from the decade. First was the John Woo directed action flick Face/Off starring both John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. Obviously, we all love to make fun of Nicolas Cage. His insistence on playing simply obscene, vulgar, and downright insane characters has made him a gem in the viral video/social media era where his expressions are converted into memes at lightspeed rates. However, I had always heard that Cage's performance in Face/Off is actually one of his best roles. What resulted was one of the best action films of the decade.

John Travolta plays an FBI agent named Sean Archer, who for the past 6 years has been tracking the terrorist Castor Troy, played by Cage. Archer's six year obsession with Troy stems from the death of his son, by Troy's hand, by sniper fire. Archer's obsession to bring the man to justice causes him to become a hardened man who works long hours and rarely spends time with his wife and daughter. Finally, one day, Archer is able to capture Troy (detailed in a classic over the top action sequence that only the mind of John Woo could think up). However, before being captured and falling into a coma, Troy planted a bomb in the middle of LA. The only person who now knows where it is would be Castor's brother, Pollux, who refuses to talk. Because of this, the FBI comes up with the absurd scheme to switch Archer's and Troy's faces, as well as their body types, in order to get Pollux to spill where the bomb is. The surgery works and Archer, under the guise of Castor Troy, enters prison and quickly finds the bomb's location. However, during this time, Troy wakes up from his coma, steals Archer's face, and torches all the evidence of the mission, even the individuals involved. To Archer's horror, Castor Troy uses his new identity to steal Archer's whole life, including his family, all while the real Archer is locked up in a cell looking like Castor Troy. Archer-As-Troy then escapes the prison and then engages in a riveting battle of cat and mouse with Troy-As-Archer to get his identity back.

I won't try to pretend that this is a coherent and sensible plot; it's actually completely ridiculous. The whole point is to set up a mistaken identity plot and get the two main actors to essentially play each other's role. However, the results of it are pretty damn awesome. Since the actor's characters essentially switch bodies we're given the awesome scenario of Nicolas Cage playing John Travolta while John Travolta plays Nicolas Cage. It's pretty damn awesome to watch considering that Cage actually turns in one of the best performances of his career and proves that when he wants, he's perfectly capable of playing serious roles well. That being said, he finds himself right at home at the beginning of the movie as the insane Castor Troy, so those looking for some hammy Nicolas Cage action won't be disappointed. Travolta meanwhile seems to relish his role as the villain and has the excuse that he's essentially playing Nicolas Cage to act like the biggest ham in the room the whole time. However, simply writing Travolta's performance off as such would be a disservice to just how damn good he plays the villain here. Both actors convey well the whole struggle of the movie, the loss of identity. Cage does a fantastic job conveying Archer's pain, the fact that he is trapped in the body of his worst enemy while that same man is running around in his body and has stolen his family away from him. Face/Off is full of over the top action but there's some interesting stuff to be found underneath that as well. Speaking of action, this was also the first movie where director John Woo was given full creative control and it shows. Right from the start we have FBI agents flying through the air, shooting guns in slo-mo. The action scenes are brilliantly filmed and there's enough of it to offset the slower parts if action is more your speed. Every action scene is over the top and ridiculous, to the point where you might start giggling at the absurdity of it all. However, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't awesome. Woo's writing isn't exactly the strongest out there but it's an action movie so you shouldn't go in expecting anything ground-breaking. The only time the writing really seemed to be a problem was whenever Margaret Cho, playing another FBI agent here, opened her mouth. Cho, even in her limited screentime, turns in one of the worst performances of all time. Luckily for us, the focus is on the awesomeness of Cage and Travolta, who carry the whole film on their own. The biggest downside I can point out is that the film is a bit long at 134 minutes as Woo sometimes lets some scenes drag on too long. However, the other side of the coin on that is that it's over two hours of awesome action and a pretty damn good film to boot.

The Good: Travolta and Cage put in fantastic performances, John Woo's action is incredible, the slower scenes aren't just filler between action scenes

The Bad: The plot is pretty flimsy, Woo lets some scenes run a few seconds too long

My Score: 4/5, seriously, if you're in the mood for a good action film you can't go wrong with this one.

I wasn't quite done after Face/Off. I really wanted another movie to watch and luckily for me, Netflix delivered. I had actually found out about Glengarry Glen Ross through a Bill Simmons article on his site Grantland. In the article, Simmons referenced the iconic opening scene of the film. Ever since seeing that scene, I had wanted to watch the film for months and finally I had my chance. The film depicts the lives of four real estate salesmen and how desperate they become when their parent company sends in a trainer to motivate them to do better work. The result is a competition in which the top two salesmen of the month stay on and the rest are fired. The whole film is a treatise on the depths that humans will sink when their ass is on the line. The film is based off of the 1984 play of the same name by David Mamet. The only difference between the two is that the film made a whole new character for Alec Baldwin, resulting in one of the most iconic speeches in cinema. The film is driven by it's all-star cast as Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, and Kevin Spacey all have enough charisma to carry any film on their own. The film is at it's best when it simply lets the characters interact with each other.

Alec Baldwin is only in the film for about ten minutes and manages to outdo everyone else in a superb cast

The sales competition forces each salesman to try and take down the others in very sly ways. There's no real hero in the film, the only one we might be able to call a hero is Jack Lemmon's character, Shelley Levane, an old salesman who has lost his mojo. Counteracting him is Pacino's character, who's the hotshot of the office. Ed Harris shows up as Dennis Moss, a man who frequently laments the cons of being on the low end of the totem pole. Alan Arkin shows up as Aaronow, a soft spoken salesman who has trouble standing up for himself. Finally, there's Kevin Spacey, the manager of the office who plays his role as villain so well. Alec Baldwin is in the film for all of ten minutes (at the film's start nonetheless) and manages to upstage them all with classic Baldwin arrogance. Regardless of the plot, I think I would have watched this film even if it was just the actor's talking between themselves in character; which actually isn't far from what the film actually is like. The actors themselves describes the film as "The Death of a Fuckin' Salesman" which is very accurate, a modern day interpretation of the famous play. It's a way different film than the one I watched up above, but a certainly gripping one at that. I recommend it to anyone who wants to see five great actors do what they do best.

Pros: Fantastic cast, great writing and film work.

Cons: For anyone who hasn't seen the play they might miss out on a few things

My Score: 5/5