There’s a certain kind of magic that comes with being a movie-lover living in Jackson, TN. More often than not, you will find yourself alone, or nearly so, in the theater, unless it’s opening night. On a Friday night, I went with my friend, Grace Peecher, to go see Martin Campbell’s The Foreigner, starring the one and only Jackie Chan. We were one third of the crowd, which was good, as Grace and I both talk during movies, mostly jokes.
Brief history of me and Jackie: I loved him in Rush Hour (I’ve only seen the first one), and although I didn’t know who he was at the time, I watched Jackie Chan Adventures on Cartoon Network while growing up. I don’t know how I haven’t seen more films involving him, but that’s honestly it. Still, I was excited to see The Foreigner. The previews were promising, and seemed to place Chan in the role of a Bourne-esque character, so I was definitely going to see the film.
Side note: I love all five of the existing Bourne movies, and if you ever say anything negative about them or sweet, sweet Matt Damon, I will sub-tweet you.
If you’ve seen the trailer for this movie, there are no spoilers below. However, if you want to see a movie without having any clue what’s going to happen within the first five minutes, then maybe you shouldn’t read this. Also, what’s wrong with you?
The movie stars Jackie Chan as Ngoc Minh Quan, a vet of the Vietnam war. His daughter, Fan (Katie Leung), is in the movie for all of five minutes before she is killed by a bomb, revealed to be planted by the Authentic IRA, a new terrorist organization running around London, because there aren’t enough real terrorist groups in the world. Pierce Brosnan is Liam Hennessy, the Deputy Minister of Ireland who, completely coincidentally, used to be a part of the IRA. In addition, a relatively new actor, Rory Fleck Byrne, plays Hennessy’s nephew, Sean Morrison, who used to be military. Grace and I agree that Byrne looks like a creeper hipster who works at a coffee shop in Michigan. Well, that or Kylo Ren.
That’s pretty much it. The main plot revolves around the constant tension between Quan and Hennessy, and the tension between Hennessy and and Morrison. Also, there are affairs. Like, a lot of affairs. I would venture to say there are an unnecessary amount of affairs in a movie that had appeared to be about Jackie Chan and his mission to kick terrorist backside. The love triangles throughout the film attempt to bring more conflict into the story, but ultimately I found them to be weak sub-plots, only taking away from the main story.
The conflict between Quan and the Authentic IRA is solid. The best action sequences come in these conflicts, with some incredibly shot hand-to-hand fights and chase scenes showing that Chan still has it. Unfortunately, the movie focused more on Hennessy, and his own problems than it did on Chan. In a weird way, the plot seemed to want to be about Hennessy, trying to make him likable, focusing on his side of the events. The thing is, he’s not likable. Brosnan did a great job playing a terrorist-turned-politician, but the thing about terrorist-turned-politicians is they’re awful people. Do you feel sorry for Hennessy when things don’t go his way? When some strange twist of fate ruins his plans? No. Not at all.
After all of that, The Foreigner was still entertaining. There were lulls, a few unexplained characters, and some strange plot choices, but the movie kept you watching the screen, and Campbell’s action scenes managed to drive the movie when the characters couldn’t.
The Foreigner is not the best film of the year, but it’s worth a night out, so long as you know what you’re getting into. Hopefully others will take note from The Foreigner’s shortcomings, and be sure to focus on the more interesting characters of films in the future. Everyone cares about a father who has lost his daughter, and not many people care about a terrorist-turned-politician who sleeps around. Grace and I had the same thought as we walked out of the theater: Too much boring antagonist, not enough Jackie.
The Foreigner gets a B-
