Nicolas Cage has made a lot of great movies over the years, so much so that when we’re asked, ‘What’s the best Nicolas Cage movie?’ we have to stop and think for a second—only joking. No, we don’t. It’s Face/Off. Why? Well, besides the fact it’s literally one of the best action movies ever, it also gives us not one but two of Cage’s best performances.
What do we mean by that? Well, we get to see Cage chewing the scenery as the unhinged terrorist Castor Troy, and then once he swaps faces, he becomes the calmer, more meditative Sean Archer. It’s genuinely a staggeringly good performance and marks Cage as one of the best actors of his generation.
When you couple that with director John Woo’s artful direction (The man knows how to stage a dramatic set piece), you’ve got a recipe for what may be one of the best movies of all time or at least one of our favorites. The exciting news is, though, that if for some reason you don’t have direct access to Face/Off, you can now watch it on Prime Video (Once you’re done going through our list of the best Amazon Prime movies).
We’re not the only ones who love Face/Off; the film currently enjoys a 92% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a no less impressive 82% audience score. Outside of the critic’s sphere, there’s an argument to be made that Face/Off is the reason that one of the best directors in Hollywood got his Oscar. Yes really.
Face/Off is what inspired director Andrew Lau to make Internal Affairs one of the best thriller movies to come out of Hong Kong. Of course, this is the film that Martin Scorsese would ultimately develop into his drama movie The Departed, for which he would win the Academy Award for Best Director.
No Face/Off, no The Departed, which would mean The Academy would have to give Scorsese the Oscar for one of his other films, which might have actually been for the better. We’re not sure how we feel about The Departed being the film that got his Oscar.
If you don’t have a Prime Video subscription, you can sign up for a free trial here. We’ve also got some news on the long-gestating Face/Off sequel. If though you’re a film fanatic and want more hot takes, you should check out our list of the best science fiction movies.
Perhaps, though, you just want more Cage anecdotes? Well, you’re in the right place. Why not learn about why Cage is so embarrassed about asking his uncle for a part in Godfather 3 or the gross movie scene he’ll never do again?
Finally, why not check out our list of all the new movies coming in 2023?