To be certain, I’m torn. I like Nicolas Cage, I like Pedro Pascal, but I also like Face/Off the way currently sits, plot holes and unanswered questions and all. It became the legend it is now because of Cage and John Travolta, and the truth is that Cage isn’t the guy he was back in the day, and Pascal, despite being a good actor, is not Travolta. In other words, it feels as though the second movie, which would either be a sequel or a complete retooling of the original, doesn’t feel like it would match up. Maybe that’s just me being resistant to change, but it could also be that the original movie didn’t need to be given a lot of serious thought, and was therefore just a fun action movie that could be enjoyed as it was. That might sound a little childish, but to be fair it comes from a place that desires to see at least some of the movie from the past few decades left alone since the whole idea of remakes, reboots, and continuations have a 50/50 chance of success, and it’s way too easy to slip over to failure than it is to pull a success out of thin air.
The fact is that there are elements of the story that can be used, but it does raise a few questions since unless the story is going to have something to do with Travolta’s character, perhaps bring him back for a cameo, or describe how he was killed off or allowed to be disregarded, it doesn’t feel like it will be a direct sequel. And if it is, then what in the world has happened to Nicolas Cage’s character, Castor Troy? Is he still alive? And if so, why? If anyone in the movies has ever earned the death penalty or the chance for a surgeon to say ‘oops’ while in surgery (I know, kinda dark) it would be Castor Troy. The guy was designed to be bad and proud of it, as he had no remorse for killing Archer’s son, and didn’t think twice about killing just about anyone.
But one of the biggest questions is why the story would need to involve Castor Troy at all since by the end of the first movie it’s likely that the guy would be locked away for good and might never see the light of day again. Unless Pedro was going to become the protagonist it feels likely that a similar plotline as was seen in Crank 2: High Voltage, might actually be in the works, as Pascal might be introduced as yet another member of the Troy family, or someone who was heavily invested in Troy, thereby creating a reason for Troy’s presence to still be necessary. That might be way off the mark I hope it is, but trying to think of a way to introduce both characters and still have a use for a villain that was beaten twice in the same movie makes the overall plot feel like something that would be all about a revenge plot that wouldn’t have a lot of substance to it. Trying to justify that this would be a direct sequel would be a little bit tough seeing as how the matter between Archer and Troy was already settled.
Another idea could be that somehow, someway, Troy is still alive and somehow finds out that Archer has adopted his son, and might come back out of spite to try and take the kid away in any manner that he can. Any way a person cuts it, Castor Troy was a great villain for as long as he was allowed to last, but the way his final fight was written makes it feel as though bringing him back would be a mistake since it’s almost like watching a bully that’s been soundly thrashed trying to act tough again. People can argue all they want about this it might bring to light a reason how and why the movie might be a decent idea. But there would be several obstacles in the way that might make it less than possible to see this movie wow anyone the way the first one did.
Is it possible to get this movie made and get people to watch it? Of course, it is, it would have Cage and Pascal, their names alone would bring people in. But would it be worth it in the end? That’s a bigger question that doesn’t have a solid answer since at this time there’s no telling just how it would go and who else would be a part of the cast. There would be a lot of new faces no doubt since plenty of the villains were dead by the end of the last movie. But when has that ever stopped a Hollywood script from being written?