In the body of the enemy

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Movie
German title In the body of the enemy
Original title Face / Off
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1997
length 133 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director John Woo
script Mike Werb ,
Michael Colleary
production Terence Chang ,
Christopher Godsick ,
Barrie M. Osborne ,
David Permut
music John Powell
camera Oliver Wood
cut Steven Kemper ,
Christian Wagner
occupation
synchronization

In the body of the enemy (Original title: Face / Off ) is an American action film directed by John Woo from 1997 . The peculiarity of the film is the identity swap of the “good” and the “bad” as well as their encounter, staged in the style of Hong Kong cinema and, according to the genre, very action-conscious. The film opened in German cinemas on September 25, 1997.

action

FBI agent Archer has been chasing terrorist Castor Troy since an attempted murder on him - but in which his son was killed . After he finally succeeded in arresting Castor and his brother Pollux, the older Castor is in a coma and has to be artificially kept alive while Pollux is sent to the maximum security prison in Erehwon. Upon examining Pollux Troy's records, however, it turns out that the brothers set up a bomb in an undisclosed public square in Los Angeles that will detonate in a few days . After all other ways to find this place prove ineffective, Archer eventually gets himself involved in a top-secret face transplant by Dr. Malcom Walsh in his Walsh Institute remove his face and replace it with the Castor Troys, and his entire body is also adapted to that of Troy. Archer's voice is synchronized with Castor's voice using a microchip. In prison, he is supposed to hear Pollux Troy - who only trusts his brother - about the bomb and then to be operated on again.

The plan works at first, until the faceless Castor Troy unexpectedly wakes up from his coma, with outside help from Dr. Walsh arrives and forces him to transplant Sean Archer's face, which is swimming in a solution. As soon as this is done, Troy murders everyone who knew about the face swap. In his new identity as Sean Archer, he first releases his brother Pollux from prison and then begins to approach Archer's family. At the last second, he defused the bomb he had planted himself and thus became a celebrated hero with the possibility of “abusing a public office” and eliminating old, personal enemies with the help of the FBI apparatus.

However, with the help of a ruse and a fellow prisoner, the real Archer manages to escape from the maximum security prison and go into hiding with friends of Castor Troy's who know nothing of his true identity. There he is found by Pollux Troy, the FBI storms the building, and Archer has to flee with Sasha, a woman whom Troy has known and mother of his son Adam. While escaping, he runs into Pollux, whom he kills in battle. Sasha is fatally wounded in a firefight.

Archer finally manages to tell his wife Eve about the identity swap, who believes him after a secret blood group check .

After the funeral of the suspicious superior Archers, Victor Lazarro, who was murdered by Troy, there is a showdown between Archer and Troy, which ends with Troy's death by a harpoon. Archer gets his face back after his wife clears up Archer's colleagues, and also takes Troy's son Adam into his family.

synchronization

The synchronization was created by Lingua Film based on a dialogue book by Sabine & Cornelius Frommann under the dialogue direction by Benedikt Rabanus .

role actor German voice actor
Sean Archer / Castor Troy John Travolta Thomas Danneberg
Castor Troy / Sean Archer Nicolas Cage Martin Keßler
Pollux Troy Alessandro Nivola Pascal Breuer
Dr. Eve Archer Joan Allen Dagmar Dempe
Dr. Hollis Miller CCH pounder Eva Maria Bayerwaltes
Victor Lazarro Harve Presnell Horst Niendorf
Dietrich Hassler Nick Cassavetes Hubertus Bengsch
Sasha Hassler Gina Gershon Anke Reitzenstein
Adam Hassler David McCurley Thomas Rau
Agent Winters Lauren Sinclair Elisabeth Günther

Influences

The idea of ​​swapping faces corresponds to a modern adaptation of the Greek Amphitryon myth.

The Troy brothers are named after the two Dioscurs, Kastor and Pollux. According to the ancient legend, these twins, one human, the other demigod, are the brothers of Helen of Troy . The last name Troy (ger .: Troy but) also refers to Homer's Odyssey , the hero Odysseus, like Sean Archer in Face Off murderous, after the end of the war (with Woo the first battle against the terrorists) on a remote island adventure experienced while the good wife is harassed by villains at home.

Reviews

“A brilliant, intoxicating action and violence cinema, with which director John Woo builds on his early work. With its distant cinematic language of choreographed destruction, strongly varying tempo and a masterful montage, the film also tells an appealing story of human identity and its dialectics. "

“A real stroke of genius and certainly John Woo's ('Red Cliff') best US work. Conclusion: intelligent plot and crazy fast-paced action. "

Awards

The film won two MTV Movie Awards in 1998 with John Travolta / Nicolas Cage as the best film duo and the final chase with speedboats as the best action scene . He was also nominated for four other categories of this award, best film, best actor (both individually) and best villain (both together).

In addition to an Oscar nomination for the best sound effects, there were also two Saturn Awards for John Woo (best director) and Mike Werb / Michael Colleary (best authors) in the same year . The film was also nominated for this award in the following categories:

  • best action film / adventure film / thriller
  • best actor (John Travolta)
  • best actor (Nicolas Cage)
  • best make-up (David Atherton and Kevin Yagher)
  • best music (John Powell)
  • best performance by a young actress (Dominique Swain)
  • Best Supporting Actress (Joan Allen)

The scene in which Castor Troy's son had to watch a shooting while listening to the song Somewhere over the Rainbow on headphones was voted one of MTV's “Most Exciting Music Moments in Movies”.

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating “particularly valuable”.

Others

  • Although the official German title is Im Körper des Feindes , it is often given (e.g. on television broadcasts ) with Face / Off - Im Körper des Feindes or just Face / Off . The Chinese distribution title is identical to the original title of The Killer ("Bloodshed Two Heroes").
  • The film title is a play on words and literally means "face off". But also alludes to a face off; thus enter into competition or opposition.
  • The name of the high security prison "Erehwon" means "nowhere " when read backwards .
  • Although, according to the credits of the film, Castor Troy is played by Nicolas Cage and Sean Archer by John Travolta, the majority is dominated by the cast Troy-Travolta and Archer-Cage after the faces have been swapped.
  • The first idea was to have Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger play the main roles, but because the philosophical aspect of the story needed more emphasis, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta were hired.
  • When the film was made (1997), full face transplants were not yet possible in reality. Spanish specialists did this for the first time in 2010.
  • The film is parodied in the Simpsons episode Bob next door . The new neighbor, Walt, is actually Tingeltangel-Bob. This had previously undergone a face change.

Remake

As announced in September 2019, Paramount is working on a remake . This is to be written by Oren Uziel and produced by Neal H. Moritz .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Age designation for In the body of the enemy . Youth Media Commission .
  2. In the body of the enemy. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
  3. ^ Günter Blamberger: Heinrich von Kleist. Biography. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011. ISBN 978-3-10-007111-8 . P. 271.
  4. a b Thomas Gaschler, Ralph Umard: Woo . Belleville, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-933510-48-1 .
  5. In the body of the enemy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. In the body of the enemy on tvspielfilm.de
  7. In the body of the enemy on fbw-filmbassy.com
  8. World's first complete face transplant ( Memento from February 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Kleine Zeitung from April 22, 2010
  9. Christian Fußy: "Face / Off" remake: "Fast & Furious" producer reissues the Nicolas Cage cult film. In: film starts . September 10, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019 .