The Foreigner - Movie Review

The Foreigner is an action film based on the 1992 book The Chinaman by Stephen Leather. The book was written in 1992 when the IRA was still actively bombing targets. The fictional tale focuses on Quan Ngoc Minh (Jackie Chan), a quiet Chinese restaurant owner with a mysterious past. When his daughter is killed in one of the bombings, Minh seeks revenge. The Vietnamese war veteran pulls out all stops to ascertain the identities of his daughter's killers. We discover that he was trained by US Special Forces in Vietnam, training that becomes evident as he easily out maneuvers his adversaries. Minh will stop at nothing to find the killers, first launching verbal threats against Deputy Prime Minister Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) before escalating to more extreme measures.

David Marconi was tasked with freshening up the story to make it fit 25 years later. The last IRA attack was in 1996, so the story needed to have an impetus. Marconi has former IRA members serving as politicians, with the several factions working together to govern. Wanting pardons for several IRA members who are still fugitives, the terrorists-cum-politicians devise a plan to create some attacks to work as leverage against the British government. They plan was not supposed to involve loss of life, creating far more backlash than intended. This strategy for freshening up the story actually works. What doesn't work for me is the math. Jackie Chan is excellent as a 61-year-old veteran seeking revenge. If anyone in the world could pull that off, it is Jackie Chan. The math problem is that Minh is a Vietnam veteran who was trained by US Special Forces. The US began pulling out of Vietnam in 1973, with Saigon falling in early 1975. Our Special Forces were returned to Fort Bragg in 1971. Even if we were training Vietnamese soldiers all the way up until the fall of Saigon, Minh would have only been barely 19. The timeline just doesn't fit. Having said that, I'm cool with putting that anachronism aside and simply enjoying the film.

The Foreigner has a decent plot with a couple of predictable twists. But the elements fit together well. Ultimately, it is a vehicle to showcase Jackie Chan's exceptional action movie skills. The story includes a heavy dose of Chan fighting bad guys mixed with some interesting improvised devices. The characters are okay, although a few are not fully developed. The two main characters have plenty of depth. Brosnan is excellent as a less-than-squeaky-clean politician and Chan does an exceptional job of playing a serious role. Usually his antics add comic elements to his action films. This was a straight drama, which he handles with professionalism. The story has a few loose ends to tie up at the end, which it handles in a way that makes sense. There were a couple of plot holes that bothered me, but minor stuff for an action film.

The Foreigner was rated R by the MPAA. There is some violence and some suggestive sexual material. Primarily, the rating stems from the violence. A couple of bombings, plenty of shootings (to include some point blank violence) and lots of martial arts action. The fight scenes and violence are mostly well-choreographed eye candy. Nothing worse than most shooter video games. The sexual content was a bit mature, but did not include nudity. Not for younger viewers, though.

I enjoyed The Foreigner. It's an action film with some flaws. But good acting and a decent script hold together for fast paced entertainment. The strong pacing meant I was never bored. The constant action and evolving plot lines kept me engaged in spite of a couple of plot holes and some questions about tactics used. This film is good on the big screen, but might be worth just a matinee viewing. I think it will translate just as well to the small screen without losing much. It's not epic. The film looked very polished for a 35 million dollar budget, which has already been recouped in ticket sales. 7.5/10.