The Foreigner
2/4
Starring: Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Ray Fearon, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Dermot Crowley
Rated R for Violence, Language and Some Sexual Material
Jackie Chan became famous for mixing insane martial arts stunts (and performing them himself) with slapstick comedy. Bruce Lee meets Buster Keaton, as it were. His movies were as thrilling as they were hilarious. But as fit and talented as Chan is, not even he can outrun time. So aside from his voice work in the "Kung Fu Panda" movies and playing Mr. Han in "The Karate Kid" remake (he was also in "The Lego Ninjago Movie," but due to the respect I have for Chan, I'm going to pretend that it doesn't exist), he hasn't done much. At least not on this side of the Atlantic. While "The Foreigner" can be classified as an action movie and he does kick a bit of ass, this is not the traditional action comedy staple that he is famous for. This is a dark and violent movie, and rather depressing.
Quan Ngoc Minh (Chan) is a single dad with a bad past. The only one he cares about is his teenaged daughter Fan (Leung), who is preparing to get a dress for an upcoming dance. Unfortunately, while buying the dress, she is killed in an IRA bombinb. After being rebuffed by the lead investigator (Bromley), he sees a politician named Liam Hennessey (Brosnan) discuss the matter. Quan approaches Hennessey for leads, but Hennessey has no answers. Hennessy has a history with the IRA, so Quan won't take no for an answer. To that end, he unleashes a series of increasingly dangerous bombing attacks against Hennessy forcing him to release names of the bombers. Or else.
That's when things get fall apart. There are too many characters and too many competing storylines. The plot makes less sense by the minute, and that leads to boredom. There are a few action scenes here and there, but without a coherent story to guide us through, there's little to do but wait for the end credits so we can go home.
The problem is that director Martin Campbell doesn't have a clear vision of what he wants this film to be. Is it a thoughtful look at terrorism? Is it a tale about grief and revenge? A film about the Troubles? By trying to being all of them, it ends up being none of them. The film's scattershot focus dilutes all of the film's strengths. There are isolated moments that do work, including the final fight sequence, where in a rare move for Chan, he uses a gun. But character development is so shallow that it's impossible to figure out who everyone is and how they relate to each other. For example, Hennessey's past plays a huge part in the story, but how is never made clear. Key casting mistakes are also to play. Take Hennessey's wife Mary (Brady) and his mistress Maggie (Murphy) are two very different characters with very different parts to play in the story. Yet they look and sound so similar that it's impossible to tell them apart.
The performances are effective, but no one is getting any Oscar nominations (although that may be the studio's hope). Jackie Chan has been making a lot of waves for his work, and while it is solid and workmanlike, it's not revolutionary. Pierce Brosnan (making his first movie with Campbell in over 20 years...the two worked on his debut Bond feature "GoldenEye") digs into his bag of tricks to turn in a solid performance, but again, it's nothing special. The rest of the cast does solid jobs in roles that are written with varying degrees of quality.
Watching "The Foreigner" will make you want to watch one of his old movies.
Starring: Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Ray Fearon, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Dermot Crowley
Rated R for Violence, Language and Some Sexual Material
Jackie Chan became famous for mixing insane martial arts stunts (and performing them himself) with slapstick comedy. Bruce Lee meets Buster Keaton, as it were. His movies were as thrilling as they were hilarious. But as fit and talented as Chan is, not even he can outrun time. So aside from his voice work in the "Kung Fu Panda" movies and playing Mr. Han in "The Karate Kid" remake (he was also in "The Lego Ninjago Movie," but due to the respect I have for Chan, I'm going to pretend that it doesn't exist), he hasn't done much. At least not on this side of the Atlantic. While "The Foreigner" can be classified as an action movie and he does kick a bit of ass, this is not the traditional action comedy staple that he is famous for. This is a dark and violent movie, and rather depressing.
Quan Ngoc Minh (Chan) is a single dad with a bad past. The only one he cares about is his teenaged daughter Fan (Leung), who is preparing to get a dress for an upcoming dance. Unfortunately, while buying the dress, she is killed in an IRA bombinb. After being rebuffed by the lead investigator (Bromley), he sees a politician named Liam Hennessey (Brosnan) discuss the matter. Quan approaches Hennessey for leads, but Hennessey has no answers. Hennessy has a history with the IRA, so Quan won't take no for an answer. To that end, he unleashes a series of increasingly dangerous bombing attacks against Hennessy forcing him to release names of the bombers. Or else.
That's when things get fall apart. There are too many characters and too many competing storylines. The plot makes less sense by the minute, and that leads to boredom. There are a few action scenes here and there, but without a coherent story to guide us through, there's little to do but wait for the end credits so we can go home.
The problem is that director Martin Campbell doesn't have a clear vision of what he wants this film to be. Is it a thoughtful look at terrorism? Is it a tale about grief and revenge? A film about the Troubles? By trying to being all of them, it ends up being none of them. The film's scattershot focus dilutes all of the film's strengths. There are isolated moments that do work, including the final fight sequence, where in a rare move for Chan, he uses a gun. But character development is so shallow that it's impossible to figure out who everyone is and how they relate to each other. For example, Hennessey's past plays a huge part in the story, but how is never made clear. Key casting mistakes are also to play. Take Hennessey's wife Mary (Brady) and his mistress Maggie (Murphy) are two very different characters with very different parts to play in the story. Yet they look and sound so similar that it's impossible to tell them apart.
The performances are effective, but no one is getting any Oscar nominations (although that may be the studio's hope). Jackie Chan has been making a lot of waves for his work, and while it is solid and workmanlike, it's not revolutionary. Pierce Brosnan (making his first movie with Campbell in over 20 years...the two worked on his debut Bond feature "GoldenEye") digs into his bag of tricks to turn in a solid performance, but again, it's nothing special. The rest of the cast does solid jobs in roles that are written with varying degrees of quality.
Watching "The Foreigner" will make you want to watch one of his old movies.
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