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Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.
Fans of Nicolas Cage's sci-fi actioner Face/Off have less than a week to sneak in a rewatch before it leaves Netflix. While he may not be typecast in the genre like Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nic Cage's action movie list is an undeniably impressive one.
Cage made the transition to the genre starting in the late 1990s with an incredible run that included the classic Michael Bay movie The Rock and Con Air. Over the years, he's added to that list with the likes of Mandy and Drive Angry, but for many of his devotees, Cage's best action movie is still 1997's Face/Off.
Face/Off Is Leaving Netflix On January 19, 2026
Several notable films will be leaving Netflix throughout January, including Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. January 19 is the date the John Woo movie classic Face/Off exits the streamer (via Netflix), which doesn't leave much time for either fans or newcomers to catch it.
Nicolas Cage and John Woo later reunited in 2002 for the World War 2 movie Windtalkers.
Face/Off was originally developed with major action stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger in mind. When Woo came on board, he stripped back the original draft's more overt sci-fi elements and zeroed in on the melodrama and action elements.
The result is a superb, over-the-top action delight. The eventual leading men Cage and John Travolta compete to see who can chew the most scenery, while Woo stages action setpieces that no other filmmaker could rival. It also gave Cage the rare chance to go as hammy as possible and do subtle emotional scenes.
Face/Off Is Nic Cage's Best Sci-Fi Action Movie
While not necessarily the hardest bar to leap over, Face/Off remains Nic Cage's best work in either the sci-fi or action genres. Again, there is no more gifted a filmmaker when it comes to action than Woo, as the opening airport shootout or the finale speedboat chase proves.
It's a movie littered with inventive science fiction concepts too, and it fully taps the rich potential involved with a man literally transforming into his worst enemy. Compared to Cage's other sci-fi offerings like Knowing or Next, Face/Off easily blows the competition away.
For first-timers, the movie is a must watch. Not only does Hollywood not make blockbusters like Face/Off anymore, they never really made them quite this either. It's a sublime mix of incredible action, thoughtful sci-fi, emotional melodrama and wild comedy.
Face/Off has been memed and gifed to death over the years, but it's still an experience like no other. There have been reports of director Adam Wingard helming a sequel with Travolta and Nic Cage potentially returning, but even if that ever happens, it will have a tough time topping the original.
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