Best movie ever made. Nicolas Cage. John Travolta. John Woo. All clashing at a time during which they were experimenting with the extents to which they could perform and create art. Cage was a household name, fresh off an Oscar win, blockbuster 90s star. Travolta came out of the gutter due to Pulp Fiction and was having way too much fun with the revitalization of his career. Woo had made two American films already, but now that he had Cage and Travolta at his disposal, you already knew that this was gonna be his Hollywood masterpiece. Boats speeding away. Explosions left and right. BAREFOOT WATER SKIING!!! Boats FLYING IN THE FUCKING AIR. Nic Cage leaping off an oil rig. A classic Woo Mexican standoff. Faces swapped. A prison break. Set piece after set piece. Twist after twist. DOVES DOVES DOVES!!! SLOW MOTION GALORE!!!! This is a Woo movie through and through and I love it!! So many of his other films deal with the complex relationships between the criminal and the cop. Right versus wrong. Saint versus sinner. This literally turns that metaphor into a living and breathing thing in the form of Cage and Travolta literally swapping faces. They become the other in a beautiful exercise of showcasing how they are so alike in terms of what they want and how they act. Sure, they are polar opposites at first glance, but at the end of the day they both want to kill each other and they both fight to the fucking death in order to do so. The biggest difference between the two is obviously how they act towards their friends and family though. Speaking of, it’s so interesting to see Woo sort of play with the romantic partners of both Travolta and Cage in order to almost test how far love will go even in an absurd circumstance such as this. By the way, I love that moment when Cage and Travolta are separated by a mirror and are pointing guns at each other, so they see themselves but since they swapped faces they are seeing the other person. It’s brilliant. Anyway, I love the boat scene near the end so fucking much. I mean does it get much better than that scene????? DO YOU SEE THAT BOAT LITERALLY CRASHING THROUGH ANOTHER ONE AND USING IT AS A FUCKING RAMP?????? DO YOU SEE NIC CAGE SKIING???? DO YOU SEE THAT BOAT EXPLODING AND FLYING WAY TOO HIGH IN THE AIR AS CAGE AND TRAVOLTA GET BLOWN AWAY IN MID AIR???? I love Woo so much. The slow-mo makes this so much better too. Cage rocks the slow-mo and looks so cool. Also, Travolta does such a good job at mimicking Cage’s mannerisms, I love watching him act like his costar, and vice versa. Cage does a fine job of mimicking Travolta too, they are both so crazy I can’t get enough. It’s truly amazing that this was made. WHY CANT MOVIES BE LIKE THIS ANYMORE????? This is peak cinema man.
Best movie ever made. Nicolas Cage. John Travolta. John Woo. All clashing at a time during which they were experimenting with the extents to which they could perform and create art. Cage was a household name, fresh off an Oscar win, blockbuster 90s star. Travolta came out of the gutter due to Pulp Fiction and was having way too much fun with the revitalization of his career. Woo had made two American films already, but now that he had Cage and Travolta at his disposal, you already knew that this was gonna be his Hollywood masterpiece. Boats speeding away. Explosions left and right. BAREFOOT WATER SKIING!!! Boats FLYING IN THE FUCKING AIR. Nic Cage leaping off an oil rig. A classic Woo Mexican standoff. Faces swapped. A prison break. Set piece after set piece. Twist after twist. DOVES DOVES DOVES!!! SLOW MOTION GALORE!!!! This is a Woo movie through and through and I love it!! So many of his other films deal with the complex relationships between the criminal and the cop. Right versus wrong. Saint versus sinner. This literally turns that metaphor into a living and breathing thing in the form of Cage and Travolta literally swapping faces. They become the other in a beautiful exercise of showcasing how they are so alike in terms of what they want and how they act. Sure, they are polar opposites at first glance, but at the end of the day they both want to kill each other and they both fight to the fucking death in order to do so. The biggest difference between the two is obviously how they act towards their friends and family though. Speaking of, it’s so interesting to see Woo sort of play with the romantic partners of both Travolta and Cage in order to almost test how far love will go even in an absurd circumstance such as this. By the way, I love that moment when Cage and Travolta are separated by a mirror and are pointing guns at each other, so they see themselves but since they swapped faces they are seeing the other person. It’s brilliant. Anyway, I love the boat scene near the end so fucking much. I mean does it get much better than that scene????? DO YOU SEE THAT BOAT LITERALLY CRASHING THROUGH ANOTHER ONE AND USING IT AS A FUCKING RAMP?????? DO YOU SEE NIC CAGE SKIING???? DO YOU SEE THAT BOAT EXPLODING AND FLYING WAY TOO HIGH IN THE AIR AS CAGE AND TRAVOLTA GET BLOWN AWAY IN MID AIR???? I love Woo so much. The slow-mo makes this so much better too. Cage rocks the slow-mo and looks so cool. Also, Travolta does such a good job at mimicking Cage’s mannerisms, I love watching him act like his costar, and vice versa. Cage does a fine job of mimicking Travolta too, they are both so crazy I can’t get enough. It’s truly amazing that this was made. WHY CANT MOVIES BE LIKE THIS ANYMORE????? This is peak cinema man.
