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Last Updated: Oct 26, 2017 - 3:51:25 PM |
A revenge movie wrapped up in a political thriller that gives you a taste of both
The Foreigner
The tagline for this movie: Never Push A Good Man Too Far. A restaurateur with a long-buried past begins a vendetta when his teenage daughter is killed in a senseless act of terrorism. As he searches for the identity of the terrorists, he is brought into conflict with a government official whose own past may link him to the elusive political driven murderers.
Ngoc Minh Quan is a restaurant owner in London who happens to be a former special forces operator during the Vietnam War looking for revenge on the people responsible for the death of his daughter. Liam Hennessy is a British government official who happens to be a former member of the Irish Republican Army and trying to keep the peace in a tumultuous climate. Jim Kavanagh is Liam’s right hand man trying to keep him safe as the chaotic attacks seem to increase around them with each passing day and thus disrupting the flow of political business. Maggie aka Sara McKay is Liam’s mistress who happens to have her own agenda for being with him that ties her to the growing amount of terrorist activity in the general area.
The Foreigner is an action thriller that is a political thriller first and an action movie second which slightly lessens its impact in both areas. It feels like they had a story they wanted to tell that was too short with uninspired dialogue and had to add on a B Story to punch up the action while padding the run time. The trailer sells this movie as a Jackie Chan film but his character could be taken out of the story and the events would still play out the way they did with an extended timeline. That being said, Jackie Chan gives an endearing performance as the grief stricken man searching for vengeance and Pierce Brosnan is impressive as the put upon politician trying to make the best out of a bad situation spiraling out of his control. Martin Campbell does a good job directing this film in a way that its shortcomings in plot and pacing are forgiven on the strength of the performances by its two leading men. I have not read the novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather on which this film is based but it is obvious that the screenplay by David Marconi was more interested in the political intrigue with the action being more of an after thought. What we get is a movie that is publicized as the next Taken but shares more with Death Wish, Man on Fire & Blue Ruin with a touch of The Seige, The Devil’s Own or Unthinkable. I rate this movie a rating of 3 out of 5.
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The Foreigner
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