Face/Off

Face/Off (1997)

91 mistakes - chronological order

(17 votes)

Face/Off mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While Sean tries to prevent the jet from taking off, in the exterior long shots of the aircraft there are windshield wipers over two of the cockpit's windows, but in the exterior closeups such as when Castor brings Winters into the cockpit the wipers are gone. (00:06:35 - 00:10:20)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Sean and Tito first drive the Hummer onto the runway, the jet is a mere short distance away, coming towards them. In the following shots, the distance between the Hummer and the jet has increased tremendously, for the ensuing drama to unfold. (00:09:40)

Super Grover

Visible crew/equipment: On the runway, two shots after Castor Troy says, "This is a big gun. Fly the f*ing plane," there is a side shot of the Hummer. As the camera pans in closer, the reflection of a crew member on the filming vehicle, which moves beside the Hummer, becomes visible at the Hummer's back end, just before it cuts away. (00:10:25)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Archer gets into the chopper and takes off, next shot is of the chopper flying towards the camera and it is not Archer who is flying it - the chopper pilot wears head gear and a mic. (00:11:40)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After the jet crashes into the hangar, Sean Archer runs up the back end of a police cruiser, whose three blue flashing lights are completely shattered. In the next shot facing him, when he reaches the car's roof, two of the blue lights have repaired themselves. (00:13:45)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the shoot 'em up scene at the hangar near the beginning of the film, right after Tito and Wanda take down Pollux, when Troy shoots an agent in the stomach and the agent flies back - you can see at least two cable wires pulling him backwards. You can first notice the 2 wires when the agent is running in slow motion right before he shoots him. (00:14:15)

Face/Off mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the airport hangar, after Castor reloads, in the close-up Sean is kneeling beside a crate with a large black/white SCI air freight sticker. In the overhead shot, when Castor Troy aims the gun at Sean, the sticker is gone. Debris also disappears. (00:15:35)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At the hangar, when Castor Troy is blown backwards in the turbo tunnel he hits the wire gate, and the metal bar, about 3-4 ft long, breaks off and begins to fall with him. Next shot, he lands on the floor, but the long bar does not. It just disappears. (00:17:45)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At the airport hangar, when Castor hits the wire gate in the turbo chamber, the top of his head is well below the metal bar. But, when the emergency shut-off is pressed, his unconscious body has sat itself up, because now the bar is at shoulder level. (00:17:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At the office, when Sean is given the bottle of wine for a job well done, the way the bottle is held, first by the assistant and then by Sean, differs between shots. (00:20:40)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Other mistake: On his own computer, Sean looks up his son's file, which states the boy died immediately and his date of death was September 9th, 1991. When Eve and Castor (as Sean Archer) are at the cemetery, the date of death on the headstone is September 24th, 1991. (00:21:15 - 01:14:50)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Sean looks up his son's file on the computer, and types "case closed" on Castor's file, he rubs his head with his right hand in the close-up, but next shot he is rubbing his head with his left hand. (00:21:20)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Sean first visits the Walsh Institute, he, Dr. Miller and Dr. Walsh walk in front of the circular glass window to view the ear reconstruction. In the next shot facing them, the reflection of a boom operator holding the boom pole is visible on the glass in front of Dr. Miller and Sean. (00:24:50)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: At their home, when Sean tells Eve that he has one last assignment we see his scar. At the Walsh Institute, before the surgery, there is another close-up of the scar, but it differs from the previous shot. (00:30:20 - 00:33:05)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Sean sees himself for the first time as Castor Troy, he takes the coat rack and slams it into the tri-fold mirror. The right side mirror is knocked back, and both the cameraman and camera are briefly visible in the reflection. (00:37:05)

Super Grover

Continuity mistake: After the surgery, when Sean (as Castor Troy) breaks the center mirror of the tri-fold mirror, what remains are the two side mirrors and white backing within the center frame. When Tito grabs him as he starts cursing, in these close-ups the reflections seen are as if all three sides are still intact. (00:37:15)

Super Grover

Face/Off mistake picture

Factual error: The premise of the film is swapping the faces of the Hero and Villain. We can see the whole face of Sean Archer is intact in a water tank, which includes his eyelids and lips. When Castor Troy wakes up and confronts the doctor, despite his face being missing, he still retains eyelids and lips, which isn't possible as they would be missing. This should result in Castor having exposed eyes and teeth. (00:46:47 - 00:48:08)

NeoMatrix

Castor Troy: If you dress like Halloween, ghouls will try to get in your pants.

More quotes from Face/Off

Trivia: One of John Woo's directing styles is to mark large action sequences with doves. You can see this in Mission: Impossible 2, on the island just before the final action sequence and in the church after the funeral in Face/Off.

More trivia for Face/Off

Question: Why were Pollux and Archer sent straight to prison without a trial?

MikeH

Chosen answer: It's obvious that enough time hasn't passed for a trial of such magnitude to take place, meaning that the brothers have been remanded in custody to await trial. They should have been arraigned but we don't see that onscreen.

Answer: The speech Walton gives when Archer arrives implies it's a top secret Guantanamo Bay type of prison where due process doesn't exist.

More questions & answers from Face/Off

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.