Movie Review
Review: The Foreigner
A Grim, Brutal, and Unrelenting Political Thriller
The Foreigner is a film distributed by STX Films, and directed by Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale). It stars Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan.
Synopsis: Quan is a humble London businessman whose long-buried past erupts in a revenge-fueled vendetta when the only person left for him to love — his teenage daughter — dies in a senseless act of politically motivated terrorism. His relentless search to find the terrorists leads to a cat-and-mouse conflict with a British government official whose own past may hold the clues to the identities of the elusive killers.
The Foreigner is a movie that has two good plot lines running concurrently and unfortunately it does not commit to either thread, making it feel a bit fractured.
This is not a typical Jackie Chan movie so don’t expect a ton of high-octane fight scenes. They’re in the movie, but temper your expectations because I think they showed most of those scenes in the trailers. What you can look forward to is an older, grizzled character from Chan; one that is frighteningly methodical, calculating, and deadly. I loved his performance. Everything for his character is boiling just under the surface of his calm facade until it’s time to strike. This might be Chan’s best performance to date.
Also in the Foreigner is Pierce Brosnan, who is playing a former IRA leader turned Irish liaison to the UK government. He spends most of this movie trying to locate the bombers, while at the same time keeping an unsteady peace between the IRA and the UK. Another great performance in this movie, and another plot line that was very interesting.
This is where the wheels start to come off for me in The Foreigner. I went into this movie expecting a more somber version of Law Abiding Citizen. I was looking forward to a Jackie Chan movie that had this brooding dark tone, and I did get that…for about 3/8 of this movie. What I did not expect, and was interestingly not in the marketing, was a rival plot involving Pierce Brosnan’s character looking for and trying to thwart a rogue IRA cell that is blowing shit up all over London, which is what most of this movie is about. Both of these storylines while intriguing and enjoyable, never quite formed into one cohesive movie for me. As The Foreigner progressed I felt like I was watching two movies at times, one where Jackie Chan lost everything and was out for vengeance, the other a political intrigue where Pierce Brosnan’s character is facing the demons of his past and desperately hunting down a rogue unit. Either story would have been good, but both didn’t always work for me.
The Verdict
Even with it’s flaws I found The Foreigner to be an entertaining movie. The pacing was fast, keeping the movie interesting and what this film lacked in over-the-top fights it made up for with good dialogue, riveting scenes, and brutal action. In that way it reminded me of politically motivated terrorist movies from the ‘90’s, and that’s not a bad thing. In the end I think The Foreigner is a movie that you should go out and see, especially if you’re into distilled action movies like this one.
That’s how I’m calling this one, but I’d like to know what do you guys think? Did you see The Foreigner? Am I spot on, or out of my mind? Let me know in the comments below. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. As always thanks for reading, and I’ll see you at the movies.
