HD DVD Review: Face/Off

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5

Face/Off stars Nicolas Cage and John Travolta as FBI anti-terrorism agent Sean Archer and terrorist Castor Troy in an action thriller. This is a great action flick. Briefly, while Castor Troy is in a coma, his face is removed and transplanted onto the face of agent Sean Archer who tries to penetrate Castor Troy’s network to find the location of a massive bomb before it explodes. However, after the surgery is completed, Castor Troy comes out of his coma, finds out what has happened to him and forces the surgeon to give him the face of agent Archer. It is at that point that Castor Troy turns the tables on agent Archer, who has to find his way out of a maximum security prison and return to save the day. Despite a couple holes in the plot, this is great stuff. Highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 3/4 out of 5

Coming on the heels of Transformers, this is another stellar transfer from Paramount. Encoded with VC-1 and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1, this film looks fantastic with rich bold colors, accurate skin tones and deep blacks. The image on the screen is highly detailed with no noticeable artifacts. If I hadn’t already seen Transformersm or for that matter, Hot Fuzz, I would have scored this a 5 for video. As good as it is, it is not quite up to the level of both of those films but damn close. This is a huge upgrade over the DVD and is highly recommended.

THE AUDIO: 5 stars out of 5

As good as the video is, the audio on this disc is better. Presented in Dolby Digital Plus and 6.1 DTS, this disc rocks. I did my listening in DD+ and this mix is as good as it gets in an action flick. The dialogue is clear and distinct and never gets lost in the mix, even during the action scenes. The overall sound is smooth, clear, open and never fatiguing. As expected with this score, the bass is tremendous and really rocks the room. The opening action sequence with the aborted airplane take off shakes the room. This is what action flick audio is all about, or what it should be all about. The audio on the last two Paramount titles using DD+ really has to make one wonder about the whole lossless vs. lossy debate. Is lossless really necessary? I will leave that up for you to decide. However, this is one stellar audio presentation.

CONCLUSION

This is one great presentation of this film. If you are a fan of the film or of action films in general, this disc is a must buy. Well done!

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