The role reversal between Travolta and Cage was a subject of praise , as were the stylized , violent action sequences . Critic Roger Ebert of the '' Chicago Sun-Times '' gave the film three out of four and remarked that , " Here , using big movie stars and asking them to play each other , Woo and his writers find a terrific counterpoint to the action scenes : All through the movie , you find yourself reinterpreting every scene as you realize the " other " character is " really " playing it . " '' Rolling Stone '' s Peter Travers said of the film , " You may not buy the premise or the windup , but with Travolta and Cage taking comic and psychic measures of their characters and their own careers , there is no resisting '' Face/Off '' . This you got ta see . " Richard Corliss of '' Time '' said that the film " is n't just a thrill ride , it 's a rocket into the thrilling past , when directors could scare you with how much emotion they packed into a movie . " Barbara Shulgasser of the '' San Francisco Examiner '' called the movie " idiotic " and argued that " a good director would choose the best of the six ways and put it in his movie . Woo puts all six in . If you keep your eyes closed during a Woo movie and open them every six minutes , you 'll see everything you need to know to have a perfectly lovely evening at the cinema . " The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing ( Mark Stoeckinger and Per Hallberg ) at the 70th Academy Awards , but lost to another Paramount film '' Titanic '' . '' Face/Off '' also won Saturn Awards for Best Director and Best Writing , and the MTV Movie Awards for Best Action Sequence ( the speedboat chase ) and Best On-Screen Duo for Travolta and Cage
70th Academy Awards
70th Academy Awards
Face/Off