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Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll  Con Air is high concept. Commando is notable for being practically non-concept. Doesn't stick.
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Seeing the top billed actors on the poster does draw attention to one of the main differences between 80's and 90's action, which is also in evidence in Face Off. One of Die Hard's main legacies had to be that a decade later casting respectable actors and quirky alternative darlings in action epics seemed perfectly natural. We're so used to it by now that it's easy to forget how fundamentally weird it is that Nic Cage had a successful career as an action hero.
Face Off I used to fucking love, but it's one of a terrifying number of movies I adored in the early days of my film geekdom that I haven't revisited in something like 10 years. In the bits I've seen since the 90'sness of the thing really does shine through clear and true, but that's okay.
I do remember always finding the ending a bit shit. I feel like a climax that properly played on their switched identities would've been better, but instead it was a fairly conventional showdown. Plus the 'hello dear, we don't need to feel sad about our dead son anymore because, look! I've found a replacement son!' happy finale was kind of fucked up.
