BEFORE: Tonight I want to address our government leaders, or whoever might be in charge of maintaining this facade known as Daylight Saving Time. (That's right - "Saving", not "Savings", but I digress...) Why we spend 7 months of the year fooling ourselves into thinking it's 1 hour later than it's actually supposed to be is beyond me. My first problem is, I've been heading home from work at 7 or 8 pm, and it's still light out. That shouldn't be normal, not this far south of the Arctic Circle, anyway. Second problem, we're in the middle of a heatwave and IT TAKES ONE MORE HOUR FOR THE CITY TO COOL OFF, YOU MORONS! But you don't think about that during the winter, now do you?
Some people say it's "for the farmers". Well, I say screw the farmers. Don't they have roosters that can wake them up at sunrise, to water their crops or whatever it is they have to do? Then some people say it's for the safety of the schoolkids. Again, screw them too. Anyone who wants to wake up an hour earlier to get to work or school is free to do so - all I know is, I lose an hour of sleep in the spring, and I never seem to get it back, so I'm constantly playing catch-up. Why are we "saving" all this daylight, anyway? When do we get to spend some of it, damn it?
I'll say it plainly - anyone running for office at the federal, state or local level who's willing to work toward eliminating DST will get my vote. I don't care if they're a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party, Tea Party, Green Tea Party, Black Panther Party, or the Whigs. Who's with me? If you want stronger government, vote for the people that will stand up to the Farmer's Lobby. If you want smaller government, vote for the people who will reduce staff, starting with the guys who have to change all of your city's and state's clocks twice a year. Put them to work doing something else, and we've just saved a few million dollars in salaries (you're welcome...).
Anyway, it's hot as all heck this week, and I've been told that people like to watch these big, loud, stupid action movies during the summer - of course, that's usually in an air-conditioned theater... Tonight, another Travolta action film directed by John Woo.
THE PLOT: A revolutionary medical technique allows an undercover agent to take the physical appearance of a major criminal and infiltrate his organization.
AFTER: Ah, the title is a play on words...not usually a good sign.
This movie goes way beyond those "false faces" seen in those "Mission: Impossible" films, one of which was also directed by John Woo. This guy likes people in disguise as much as he likes people shooting two guns at once, or scenes filled with pigeons and/or doves.
I could say this is an exercise in good vs. evil, or an examination of appearance vs. inner realities, or a treatise on the "masks" that people wear in their jobs. Or, I can be honest and say I just want to see how and why two guys switch their faces...
John Travolta plays Sean Archer, the head of the FBI anti-terrorism unit, and Nicolas Cage plays Castor Troy, noted criminal and prospective mad bomber. Archer undergoes an innovative surgery (NOTE: this film pre-dated actual face transplants...) to get Troy's face, in order to go undercover and learn the location of the bomb from Castor's brother, who is named Pollux (of course he is...).
Technology makes Archer look and sound just like Troy, temporarily - and the only way this could go wrong would be if Troy woke up from his coma, and got his own face transplant to look like Archer, and really, what are the chances of that happening?
So, the actors essentially switch roles - Cage gets to play the hero disguised as the villain, and Travolta gets to play the villain, hiding in plain sight as an FBI agent, in an FBI agent's house, with an FBI agent's wife. Similar to the mental duels seen in "The Prestige", both men have to learn everything about the other one's life, in order to get the upper hand. But when the villain decides to act like a straight arrow as his cover, and the hero is forced to act like a villain, the lines become somewhat blurred. One has to wonder if the characters (and the actors...) had trouble keeping track of things.
It's a unique acting challenge - aided by some fancy ADR work where Travolta's voice seems to be coming from Nicolas Cage's mouth during the transition. And both actors had to let just a little of their "inner" character through, so the audience can follow along with who's really who. Which is about as much character depth you can expect to find in an action movie.
And that's what this film is - a loud, action-packed thrill ride, with an incalcuable number of bullets fired, and a high body count - was it necessary for so many FBI agents, prison inmates, and innocent bystanders to die, just so these 2 enemies could get inside each other's heads? Er...faces? And how is it OK to injure prison guards, just so you can escape and clear your name? I must have missed that FBI memo - there had to be a better way. At least the other agents let these 2 dick-wanks battle it out in the finale without killing more people around them...
However, for a movie that starts out as far-fetched and speeds directly toward ludicrous, I did find it very exciting and entertaining. And that's the bottom line. (and didn't Scorcese later riff off this same idea, minus the facial surgery, for "The Departed", and win a Best Picture Oscar? I'm just sayin'...)
Also starring Joan Allen (last seen in "Pleasantville"), Gina Gershon (last seen in "The Insider"), Margaret Cho, James Denton, John Carroll Lynch (from the "Drew Carey Show"), CCH Pounder, with Thomas Jane (who faced off against Travolta in "The Punisher") as a prison inmate, and Danny Masterson (Hyde from "That 70's Show") as Karl, the boyfriend with the grabby hands. Also character actor Harve Presnell ("Fargo") as the head of the agency - and I could have sworn that was Michael Gross from "Family Ties" as the facial surgeon - nope, it was someone named Colm Feore.
RATING: 7 out of 10 speedboats (may the Movie Gods forgive me)
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