MovieChat Forums > Face/Off (1997) Discussion > I'm a little confused

I'm a little confused


OK so I saw the beginning of the movie and yeah Cage is one evil scumbag and I truly do sympathize with Travolta's character. He's a clearly tortured character over the loss of his son and he wants to bring Cage to justice. Wasn't able to finish the movie after Travolta apprehended Cage but then later I was able to catch the film again and it was this Mexican Standoff in a church and this is where my confusion comes in, why is Travolta's character all of a sudden acting so evil? Why does Cage seem more sympathetic? How did Cage escape? Why did Travolta's wife knock the gun out of Travolta's hand with a chair when he was about to shoot Cage? Why did Travolta hold his own daughter hostage and why did Cage save her?

I obviously missed something can someone please fill me in?

Thanks

"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

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"tiny... surgery..."

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So you basically didn't watch most of the movie and said "I obviously missed something."

Yes, yes you missed a movie called Face/Off, you putz.

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I have no idea how much of the movie I missed, I'm just confused as to why Travolta took his own daughter hostage and why Cage who is a full-fledged psycho saved her?

"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

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Sorry for my previous response. I thought you were a troll. Here’s what you missed:

Travolta's character essentially suffers from a form of dementia, believing his son was murdered by Castor Troy. It turns out, though, that he had no son - this was in his head as a result of an opium addiction. A flashback shows that his wife had died shortly after their marriage when the brakes on her motorcycle failed while navigating Lombard Street in San Francisco, causing her to drown in the West Bay in full view of tourists. So Archer goes straight to an opium den and begins his descent into narcotics. Through the first half hour of the film, Archer (Travolta's character) stalks Troy (Cage) through a series of shopping malls, barn raisings, and public sporting events, taking in his schedule and tendencies. At the end of act one, Troy, along with his wife and sister, confront Archer to leave him alone as he's trying to leave a world of crime while at a go-kart track. Archer suffers a breakdown and instantly associates Troy's sister as his lost wife (Anne Heche in the flashbacks) and tears at her clothes, eventually being left with just her shoe as the trio flees, smelling it awkwardly while staring at the camera. The screen fades into a snow globe for some reason.

In the second act, it's two years later and Archer's life has fallen into a full-on heroin spiral a la Requiem For a Dream, obsessing over Troy's sister (brilliantly played by Anne Heche in odd prosthetics now and sometimes Kathy Ireland as her body double in the nude scenes, which is fantastic). Archer's former career as a police officer is the only thing saving him from jail, shown to us repeatedly by visits from his old partner, a wise-cracking but tough as nails cop played by Danny Glover. Archer collects unlicensed firearms and more of Troy's sister's clothing (skulking around inside the ICU where she's briefly kept due to cirrhosis of the liver). Troy, aware of Archer’s stalking, has become an alcoholic, grown a creepy mustache, and has hired a gang of mercenaries and Gina Gershon to protect him, as well as training in Krav Maga. His wife is nowhere to be seen in the film due to budgetary constraints according to IMDB, as it was her salary or craft services, and this was the part of Travolta’s career where he started getting fat.

Act Two ends with Archer chasing Troy, in a pretty rad moped chase sequence, into a warehouse where they basically keep shouting about how they’re going to end this in a Mexican Standoff, which isn’t really foreshadowing as much as just literally explaining what the next scene is going to be. So yeah, they arrive at a warehouse that’s (duh) covered in white doves, and as they run inside, there’s a pretty explicit love scene between Gina Gershon and Archer’s dead wife, which wasn’t really called for. Half-way through the scene, it cuts to them in a shower, but it’s no longer Archer’s dead wife - it’s back to Troy’s sister, this time just openly played by Kathy Ireland. I mean... so hot. It’s really a stunning thing to watch and you shouldn’t have missed it. As usual, just when it’s getting good, it cuts to Archer and Troy in a handgun battle at the Mexican Standoff point.

So yeah, it’s sort of a weird movie, and I’d say you didn’t miss too much, but hopefully that helps.

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I see, that makes sense. I think I am going to skip the remainder of this film, it sounds too weird and crazy for my taste.

"I really wish Gia and Claire had became Tanner" - Honeybeefine

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Wow! FAN-TAS-TIC!

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Thanks. That was, like word for word from a Netflix synopsis, I think.

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Sometimes I come back to old message board posts and am just astounded at the things I have done here.

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Funny.

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