Face/Off

Question: Why did Castor shoot Dietrich? They were on the same side.

MikeH

Chosen answer: Although they were on the same side, Troy is currently posing as Archer, which means he would have to do everything that the FBI would expect Archer to be doing. The whole point of the raid was to take out Archer, as well as Troy's gang. He would have rather risked killing part of his own gang than risk exposing his identity to anyone else.

Casual Person

That doesn't really make sense. In the scene, he goes out of his way to shoot him and smiles while doing so, carefully and slowly. Was not a collateral damage situation. The question is why he deliberately goes out of his way to kill him.

Answer: If you watch closely, he saw Archer, went out of his way not to shoot him, instead was aiming for his own son that he didn't know was his, to further traumatize Archer.

Question: How could they possibly remove Archer's bullet scar? If they could, wouldn't that just create a bigger scar?

MikeH

Chosen answer: Surgical scar removal is a real thing, usually involving skin grafts or lasers. Keloid scarring is a result of the body aggressively attempting to heal/repair itself after trauma or injury (in this case, the gunshot). With proper surgical techniques, the body isn't traumatized to the point that deep scarring occurs. Of course, just like with the face surgery, the movie exaggerates the results of the scar removal.

Bishop73

I thought he kept it.

He says he wanted to keep it at the beginning of the movie, but when he is about to have his face changed back at the end of the movie, he says he doesn't need it anymore.

jshy7979

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.

Question: Why did Troy shoot Archer's kid again? I just watched the movie for the first time from start to finish so I really didn't get that part.

Answer: Michael wasn't the target. Caster was trying to shoot Sean, but the bullet went through him into Michel. It was collateral damage.

Quantom X

Chosen answer: Because Eve told her.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Even with biological proof Archer has a difficult time convincing his own wife that he is Sean Archer. How does Castor Troy manage to convince Pollux that he isn't Sean Archer when the two don't even meet until Pollux is out of prison?

Answer: Given that they're brothers, Castor probably reeled off a lot of family history that Archer wouldn't know. Add to that the fact that "Archer" is not acting in a way that the real Archer has any reason to act, and eventually Pollux would be convinced.

Tailkinker

Question: We saw how the first surgeon gave Archer Castor's voice (using the microphone and the "peach" comment recording). But my question here is after Castor died, a new surgeon comes in from Washington who assumingly never met Archer before. Even though Archer getting his own face back with similar surgery is understandable, how did he get his own natural voice back (considering he sounded like Castor when the surgeon met him and never heard his real voice before and couldn't with Castor dead)?

Answer: His voice was changed using an implanted chip - he's even warned it will be easy to dislodge. The chip changes the modulation of his voice, so removing it would mean his natural voice would return automatically.

Jon Sandys

Answer: Even so, it just takes a recording of the voice to match. That's how they calibrated Archer's voice to Troy's in the first place.

Answer: His chip was dislodged in the climax of the movie, if you remember he says to his daughter "hear my voice, I'm your father" and Castor says "use your eyes Jamie".

Question: Why wasn't Castor Troy cuffed to the bed and watched by several agents? And how did he know which agents knew of the switch and thus kill only them?

Rob245

Answer: For the first question, in the chance that he did wake up (which he did). He's a very dangerous man in a coma and could wake up and escape if not watched or cuffed. Second question, he would have watched the video seen when the doctor comes in and saw which agents were there, as well as would have tortured the information out of the doctor about it.

Quantom X

Good answer to the second question, but the first one asked why Troy WASN'T watched and cuffed. In the film, he wakes up alone and unrestrained.

Ah fair point. I misread and miss remembered a little bit. I'll have to see it again as it's been a while then.

Quantom X

Question: I was watching Conan O'Brien the other day, and Bob Saget and Conan were talking about Face/Off. Bob Saget made a comment that Face/Off was about Siegfried and Roy and the entire crowd was shocked. I must be dense - is there something I'm not getting?

Ryan Andersen

Chosen answer: Roy Horn was mauled/attacked by one of his tigers in a show a few years ago. Although his face was not really messed up, the reference was to the attack.

Jason Feng

Question: The theme in the trailer is also in the Double Team trailer and various other trailer. What's the name of the theme?

Answer: The trailers for Face/Off and Double Team don't seem to have any music in common - they must just sound rather similar. The most likely candidate for the theme you're referring to is "POW" by the Music Junkies, which has been used in trailers for four different films, including Face/Off.

Tailkinker

Question: Just to clear something up. Dietrich and Sasha are meant to be brother and sister, so what does the kiss mean? (In Dietrich's loft apartment, during the shootout, just after Dietrich is shot in the neck). Are they actually brother and sister, or is it a sham? Or does the "You look like you just f***ed your mother" joke to Castor Troy have hidden meaning (i.e incest?) Or is it just a last goodbye between siblings?

Answer: It's suggestive as even Archer in the interrogation room when dealing with Dietrich, said "I could talk to your sister again" as he knew it would strike a nerve. This in turn causes Dietrich to make reference to Archers dead son. There's definitely an unsettling under tone with the two.

Answer: Is just a good bye kiss between siblings, nothing more.

Dion Marui

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)

More mistakes in Face/Off

Castor Troy: You'll be seeing a lot of changes around here. Papa's got a brand new bag.

More quotes from Face/Off

Trivia: John Woo fought to keep the slash in the title, so moviegoers wouldn't think it was a film about hockey.

More trivia for Face/Off

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