History YMMV / FaceOff

* EvilIsCool: Castor Troy has dome innumerable monstrous things without no hint of remorse but John Woo's direction and the boat loads of charisma he is given by Nicolas Cage and especially a delightfully hammy John Travolta make him an absolute joy.

** Castor Troy's look after accidentally shooting Archer's son could be taken as legitimate shock, and he notably doesn't correct his aim to shoot Archer again while he's vulnerable, but it's left up in the air if it was a case of MyGodWhatHaveIDone or if he just was taken aback by the bullet failing to kill Archer. The former interpretation is contested by the fact that Troy in the guise of Archer looks more bored than remorseful when visiting Archer's son's grave with Eve.

* HarsherInHindsight: A pre-''Series/That70sShow'' Danny Masterson plays a guy who attempted to rape Jamie. Masterson was fired from ''Series/TheRanch'' after allegations that he had actually raped several women.

* ValuesDissonance: Not much to made about Castor Troy seducing Sean's wife while pretending to be him outside of the general shock of Sean Archer's sworn enemy being inside the house, and Castor's [[DateRapeAverted violent reaction]] to Jamie's boyfriend nearly raping her is portrayed as him seemingly believing actual rape to be [[EvenEvilHasStandards a step too far]]. In current times, this just comes off as pure MoralMyopia, as the BedTrick has since been acknowledged more universally as an act of rape.

** Castor Troy's look after accidentally shooting Archer's son could be taken as legitimate shock, but it's left up in the air if it was a case of MyGodWhatHaveIDone or if he just was taken aback by the bullet failing to kill Archer. The former interpretation is contested by the fact that Troy in the guise of Archer looks more bored than remorseful when visiting Archer's son's grave with Eve.

* ValuesDissonance: Not much to made about Castor Troy seducing Sean's wife while pretending to be him outside of the general shock of Sean Archer's sworn enemy being inside the house, and judging by Castor's violent reaction to Jamie's boyfriend nearly raping her, it's portrayed as him seemingly believing actual rape to be [[EvenEvilHasStandards a step too far]]. In current times, this just comes off as pure MoralMyopia, as the BedTrick has since been acknowledged more universally as an act of rape.

* ValuesDissonance: Not much to made about Castor Troy seducing Sean's wife while pretending to be him outside of the general shock of Sean Archer's sworn enemy being inside the house. In current times, Castor Troy pulling a BedTrick would be more universally considered an act of rape.

** Castor Troy's look after accidentally shooting Archer's son could be taken as legitimate shock, but it's left up in the air if it was a case of MyGodWhatHaveIDone or if he just was taken aback by the bullet failing to kill Archer. The former interpretation is contended by the fact that Troy in the guise of Archer looks more bored than remorseful when visiting Archer's son's grave with Eve.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Whether or not Sasha ever realizes or suspects the truth about Archer being Castor is a bit confusing for some.

** Loomis, who had previously been a recipient of some of Dr. Walsh's surgery and had been spared by Archer during the fight then seen Castor upset over Pollux's body could have played a role in realizing or accepting the face switch when Eve told the FBI agents about it [[DroppedABrigeOnHim if he'd been kept alive past the penthouse scene]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The scene where Castor Troy, who is dressed as a priest and presumably trying to ''avoid'' being noticed, headbangs into the church, stops to hit on one of the ''many'' chorus girls, grabs her ass while she's singing, and basically orgasms. [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight Nobody notices, apparently, not even the girl.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Season 3 had the winner picked by viewers' vote as well as allowing an eliminated contestant to rejoin the competition. With the former, fans were unhappy about it because with special effects makeup is such a highly technical field (of which only 30 minutes of a 4 day period any given week are shown), it shouldn't be decided by those who aren't in the field nor industry, don't know what they're looking for nor the rules and criteria the works are being judged on, and cannot see the works and details up close like the judges do. With the latter, some didn't like it because whoever wins gets to return further along in the competition (with some of the eliminated having been gone for so long) w/o having to endure however many challenges they missed in-between. Season 4 removed both gimmicks and never brought either back for the remainder of the series.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Loomis, who had previously been a recipient of some of Dr. Walsh's surgery and had been spared by Archer during the fight then seen Castor upset over Pollux's body could have played a role in realizing or accepting the face switch when Eve told the FBI agents if he'd been kept alive.

* HoYay: There is some context between Archer and his best friend, Tito. [[spoiler:When the latter is killed by Castor after getting his face, Archer is quite mournful of his loss]].
* IdiotPlot: The entire premise of the movie.
** Castor Troy has hidden a bomb somewhere in Los Angeles, and to find it they have Sean Archer undergo an experimental and dangerous surgery to have Caster's face switched with his own, so he can talk to Caster's brother and get the location out of him. Apparently there's no possible way to find the bomb otherwise (like say, normal police investigation and searching), and a standard interrogation is dismissed because the two brothers would never cooperate.
** After Archer takes Caster's face, his own face is left in the hospital, and Caster is left in his hospital bed ''with no security and no anesthetic keeping him comatose.'' This means when he wakes up and realizes what they've done, he can easily call his crew, have them abduct the surgeon who did the procedure, and force him to give him Archer's face. The surgeon is held at gunpoint and forced to perform the procedure, but surely he knew he would be killed when he was done, and in the meantime he could have "slipped" his hand and killed Caster. Sure it would be a HeroicSacrifice, but that's preferable to him allowing a terrorist to steal the identity of a high-ranking FBI agent.
** Once Castor has Archer's face, he kills Archer's handler, the surgeon, and a lone FBI agent, to make sure no one knows what happened. That's right -- no one else knew Archer had the surgery not, including his wife, his boss (the director of the FBI), or the warden of the prison he's going to be held in. The film gives a flimsy HandWave that this is kept off the books because it's probably illegal, but they certainly could have afforded to tell ''more than three people''.
** While the film explains some additional steps (hairline, height, eye color, tattoos, vocal cord adjustments) were taken to make Archer look and sound just like Caster, there's no getting around the fact they plain have different body types, and Caster is mentioned to be a heavy smoker and drinker that would give him health problems Archer doesn't have. And of course, Caster makes no effort to act like Archer, but everyone chalks his unusual behavior up to him just being more upbeat now that "Caster" is caught and his plot foiled. Caster even has sex with Archer's wife and she doesn't notice her husband's body and physicality are totally different, not to mention that Archer has a prominent scar on his chest from where Caster shot him in the opening of the film and it's dubious if he would know about that to duplicate it on himself.

** The entire movie, arguably. Yes, it has an IdiotPlot and a bunch of {{Narm}} moments, but had it been done by anyone other than Cage and Travolta, [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously it wouldn't have had the same charm or fun factor]]. As such, what would otherwise be a mediocre and unmemorable action movie from UsefulNotes/TheNineties is turned into [[HamAndCheese a giant rack of pork ribs covered in cheese fondue]].

* SpecialEffectsFailure:

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic:
** Mythological names for the protagonists. Mirrors. Faces. Colors. Hmm...
** As a by-product of the mythological symbolism, we have possible ''astrological'' symbolism, what with Sagittarius (the ''Archer'') facing off against its opposite sign, Gemini (Castor & Pollux--the ''twins'').

** [[UpToEleven The entire movie]], arguably. Yes, it has an IdiotPlot and a bunch of {{Narm}} moments, but had it been done by anyone other than Cage and Travolta, [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously it wouldn't have had the same charm or fun factor]]. As such, what would otherwise be a mediocre and unmemorable action movie from UsefulNotes/TheNineties is turned into [[HamAndCheese a giant rack of pork ribs covered in cheese fondue]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Whether or not Sasha ever realizes or suspects the truth about Castor is a bit confusing for some.

** Archer's daughter Jamie, for some of her character development.

* DracoInLeatherPants: "Who ''isn't'' rooting for Castor Troy?"

** Once Caster has Archer's face, he kills Archer's handler, the surgeon, and a lone FBI agent, to make sure no one knows what happened. That's right -- no one else knew Archer had the surgery not, including his wife, his boss (the director of the FBI), or the warden of the prison he's going to be held in. The film gives a flimsy HandWave that this is kept off the books because it's probably illegal, but they certainly could have afforded to tell ''more than three people''.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Whether or not Sasha ever realizes or suspects the truth about Castor is a bit confusing for some.

* UncannyValley: Some of the less successful make ups for "Switched & Hitched", "Triple Threat" and "Covert Characters" could be considered this.
** For the Toy Challenge, Robert and Yvonne's character fell into that valley.
** Ben's "Inappropriate Uncle" from the Season 9 semifinal, which won top looks thanks to purest Creep Factor.

** The climactic [[spoiler:boat chase between Archer and Caster]] features [[https://twitter.com/ekaycbs/status/841104621917622272?t=7D5jkKz49vN17W4mZ7QnuQ several gratuitously long shots]] of both actors' stunt doubles with their faces in full view. Especially difficult not to notice in HD releases.

* IdiotPlot:
** Keep a dangerous terrorist lunatic like Castor Troy in a coma in a hospital that three people know about under ''no security whatsoever'' while Sean Archer pretends to be him in a super-secret high security prison. Oh, and leave Archer's face in the hospital so that Castor can take on his face if he comes out of his coma. And don't tell Archer's boss Victor Lazarro, his FBI co-workers, or warden Walton at the prison, or even Archer's own wife, about the plan so all Castor has to do to make sure no one knows (except Archer, who has Castor's face, so no one will believe him) is kill Archer's handler, the surgeon who did the operation, and an FBI agent who had knowledge of the face switch; no good reason is ever given as to ''why'' the operation has to conducted with zero official oversight (hell, we don't even get a ''[[HandWave bad]]'' reason). And Castor has an outgoing phone in his room, allowing him to call anyone if he wakes up.
** This is not even to mention that the entire plot of the movie relies on nobody noticing that Archer or Castor have ''switched faces'' in a process that apparently leaves zero scarring. Just their faces. There is a scene wherein Castor sleeps with Eve, Archer's wife of about, let's say fifteen or twenty years, and she flat-out ''does not notice'' that her husband's body is ''completely different''. She's been with him for as many as ''twenty years'', she has NO IDEA A SWITCHEROO HAS BEEN MADE, having apparently only paid attention to her husband's face, and absolutely zero to the fact that Creator/NicolasCage and Creator/JohnTravolta have ''completely and utterly different'' body builds.
*** Then again, you notice that Archer undergoes an abdominoplasty when he becomes Castor, given that he had chest hair grown to match Castor's. It's possible Castor got the same thing when he became Archer.
*** But then the crew who did the original swap for Archer would have HAD to put Castor under anesthesia to perform the face and muscle surgeries. They would have to be utterly idiotic to not just ''keep him forcefully asleep'' while they called up their higher-ups and let them know that this incredibly dangerous terrorist under their care just woke up and demanded to be grafted the face of a trusted FBI agent to impersonate him and can you pick him up please before he gets loose? Sure Mister Troy, if you would just put your gun down for a second while the sleepy drugs take hold...
*** To be fair, Troy's goons took Dr. Walsh there and overlooked the procedure holding him and his team at gunpoint. Though again, since it's unlikely they would've been spared afterwards given how infamously AxCrazy Troy is, one of the doctors could've at least committed a HeroicSacrifice in the middle of the operation after alerting the higher-ups, since Troy's henchmen would have no clue how to finish it and be forced to run away leaving their boss to die.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Castor Troy takes Archer's face, then has everyone who had knowledge of the specific details of Archer's assignment [[FieryCoverup burned alive]] so that Archer will be unable to prove his real identity to anyone.
** Before that, Castor ''did'' plant a chemical WMD intended to destroy Los Angeles. He was well over the horizon before the movie started.
** His accidental killing of Archer's son seems to be his own moral horizon; as he appeared to be genuinely shocked when it happened. Realizing what he did was monstrous, his morality then slipped very strongly.