Rights holder / Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Borrowed person (Face/Off) is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Collier. It was released in the United States on June 27, 1997.
Sean Archer is an FBI agent who has been hunting down terrorist Castor Troy for years. After Troy is seriously injured and falls into a coma, Archer learns that he has left behind a bomb capable of causing massive damage, but no one knows where it is. The only way to get the information he needs is to undergo an experimental surgery that gives him Troy's face and allows him to assume his identity. However, the plan is turned upside down when Troy wakes up and is given Archer's face.
The idea of Borrowed person is unusual enough to withstand almost anything John Woo decides to do to her. Instead of using the identity swap as a reason for a few surprises, the film makes it the basis of the entire conflict. What's especially fun is that John Travolta and Nicolas Cage have to not only play their own characters, but also imitate each other's behavior. This is what allows both actors to step outside of their usual characters.
John Woo's direction is anything but restrained. The shootouts are choreographed like big action spectacles, the camera moves constantly, and the slow-motion shots and the director's signature images of flying pigeons turn some scenes into almost independent visual performances. After his Hong Kong classics The Killer and Hard Boiled, and later and after Broken Arrow, Borrowed person shows very clearly how Wu brings his style to Hollywood cinema.
The strongest part of the film, however, remains the interaction between the two main actors. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage They spare no energy and deliberately play on the edge of exaggeration, which works to their advantage here. When Travolta is forced to act like Castor Troy and Cage recreates the behavior of Sean Archer, the differences between the two characters gradually become part of the game itself.
Around them Joan Allen is more reserved like Eve Archer, while Gina Gershon, Alessandro Nivola and Dominic Swain complement the main composition. Colm Fiore also has a memorable presence as Dr. Malcolm Walsh. The supporting characters don't get the same attention as the two main characters, but they are enough to keep the story going beyond the main identity game.
Over time Borrowed person has become one of those films that is hard to replicate with the same effect. Its premise is absurd, but the script takes it seriously, while John Woo uses it for both dramatic situations and impressive action scenes. The result is a production in which logic sometimes gives way to spectacle, but that's part of its charm.
Today Borrowed person remains particularly interesting because of how well it brings together 90s action, John Woo's style and the unusual acting rivalry between Travolta and Cage. The film does not try to be realistic and never hides that it wants to entertain the audience with the most daring idea. Among the action films of its decade, it has its own signature, and that is why it continues to be remembered many years after its premiere.
