The Foreigner is one of the movies that is good to spend a car ride once it's done considering certain things, like, for example, why Jackie Chan is even in the movie. One could argue that if you took him out you would still have a sturdy plot involving (so-called?) IRA people, with Brosnan as the government man who was an A-Okay IRA guy once and the intrigue involving these bombings and prisoners possibly being released in exchange and shady dealings and etc etc etc. But then it hit me: in any significant bombing, particularly in the past several years (which in Europe, England especially, not IRA, but it's not something that seems completely impossible), there are those who get killed, perhaps "collateral damage" one might try to say, and so little attention gets paid to them. So Chan may have sort of special super-movie-secret-forces powers, but one could say he's fighting for everyone who is left to wait while the greater political powers shuffle boards around and wait for one side to crack.
In other words, it's a bit of those older IRA thrillers from the 90's (didn't Boorman do one, The General I think, and of course In the Name of the Father, but that's a whole other dramatic beast) with a touch of Taken, but it's also Chan showing us that he can act in such an extremely subtle way that it's easy to miss how nakedly emotional his performance is. He's going to be remembered in his celebrity eulogies for his comedies and how his martial arts skills were closer to ballet and dance than anything else (I'm sure 100 other critics have noted but, yeah, the Buster Keaton of Kung-Fu), but he is not to be underestimated for his dramatic chops, and to go head to head here with Pierce Brosnan, who is especially bringing his A-game, is impressive. He's not just doing a Liam Neeson or Bronson shtick; he's created a character full of complete pain that is bottomless, and though nothing can fill it, his Quan will take all the people down that have to go (in a rather polite way of doing it too). I haven't seen Chan in a movie, at a cineplex at least, since 2009's Shinjuku Incident. He also was full-on dramatic there; here, he goes deeper.
A moment for Brosnan: I haven't seen him this good since The Matador, which may have been ten years ago (sheesh, him, Campbell since Green Lantern, this is a quasi-comeback movie, isn't it?) I admired how skillfully Brosnan navigates this man's growing desperation, which kicks off in the first scene we see him in as his nice, calm time with his mistress is broken by the news of this bombing. From there each scene brings him further and further into the s***, and while Brosnan gets to flip out and use the string of expletives that an Irishman slugging down whiskeys here and there (in moderation, of course, but perhaps not enough all things considered), a lot of his performance is there in the face, in the eyes, as he tries to control his voice and keep it all about the growing desperation that he can't show to too many at all around him. If the prospect of yet another Jackie Chan beats people up movie sounds not enticing, Brosnan should be.
Does this mean the movie is a must-see? For the acting it is - the supporting players all around them are totally solid too, I imagine most more local players in Ireland and the UK - but the story is only OKAY. I feel like this scenario has a lot of procedural beats that should be air-tight, and in the moment they work, but there are also holes that could be punched through (don't ask me to point them out now, I'm sure CinemaSins will get to them eventually, but some of them involve some scenes in the woods and that's all I'll say). The very end also seemed like a cheat; it may not be a big deal, but it leaves a potential moment of tragedy that isn't realized, all because a character makes a decision that doesn't sound logical at all after everything that's gone on (more tragic for us to experience, not for Quan exactly). The best thing about the technical aspects are that Campbell knows what he wants and can get it all filmed, his action scenes are shot competently but with a few too many cuts (not like Greengrass-level many, but more than I care to see with Chan, who can still do most of his own stunts and fights I wager). And the score is Daft Punk lite, which is cool.
This is better in some ways and more involving than it had any right to be, and the writing doesn't lag much in its 112 minute run time which makes it never dull (at least for me). I'm not sure how well I'll remember it a year from now (aside from the two leads), but it gets the job done it sets out to do, and Chan shows he's finding interesting things to do as he goes into his later years - to put it another way, if he has to play a guy that doesn't fight at all, he can still turn in work better than a hundred or a thousand others. 7.5/10
In other words, it's a bit of those older IRA thrillers from the 90's (didn't Boorman do one, The General I think, and of course In the Name of the Father, but that's a whole other dramatic beast) with a touch of Taken, but it's also Chan showing us that he can act in such an extremely subtle way that it's easy to miss how nakedly emotional his performance is. He's going to be remembered in his celebrity eulogies for his comedies and how his martial arts skills were closer to ballet and dance than anything else (I'm sure 100 other critics have noted but, yeah, the Buster Keaton of Kung-Fu), but he is not to be underestimated for his dramatic chops, and to go head to head here with Pierce Brosnan, who is especially bringing his A-game, is impressive. He's not just doing a Liam Neeson or Bronson shtick; he's created a character full of complete pain that is bottomless, and though nothing can fill it, his Quan will take all the people down that have to go (in a rather polite way of doing it too). I haven't seen Chan in a movie, at a cineplex at least, since 2009's Shinjuku Incident. He also was full-on dramatic there; here, he goes deeper.
A moment for Brosnan: I haven't seen him this good since The Matador, which may have been ten years ago (sheesh, him, Campbell since Green Lantern, this is a quasi-comeback movie, isn't it?) I admired how skillfully Brosnan navigates this man's growing desperation, which kicks off in the first scene we see him in as his nice, calm time with his mistress is broken by the news of this bombing. From there each scene brings him further and further into the s***, and while Brosnan gets to flip out and use the string of expletives that an Irishman slugging down whiskeys here and there (in moderation, of course, but perhaps not enough all things considered), a lot of his performance is there in the face, in the eyes, as he tries to control his voice and keep it all about the growing desperation that he can't show to too many at all around him. If the prospect of yet another Jackie Chan beats people up movie sounds not enticing, Brosnan should be.
Does this mean the movie is a must-see? For the acting it is - the supporting players all around them are totally solid too, I imagine most more local players in Ireland and the UK - but the story is only OKAY. I feel like this scenario has a lot of procedural beats that should be air-tight, and in the moment they work, but there are also holes that could be punched through (don't ask me to point them out now, I'm sure CinemaSins will get to them eventually, but some of them involve some scenes in the woods and that's all I'll say). The very end also seemed like a cheat; it may not be a big deal, but it leaves a potential moment of tragedy that isn't realized, all because a character makes a decision that doesn't sound logical at all after everything that's gone on (more tragic for us to experience, not for Quan exactly). The best thing about the technical aspects are that Campbell knows what he wants and can get it all filmed, his action scenes are shot competently but with a few too many cuts (not like Greengrass-level many, but more than I care to see with Chan, who can still do most of his own stunts and fights I wager). And the score is Daft Punk lite, which is cool.
This is better in some ways and more involving than it had any right to be, and the writing doesn't lag much in its 112 minute run time which makes it never dull (at least for me). I'm not sure how well I'll remember it a year from now (aside from the two leads), but it gets the job done it sets out to do, and Chan shows he's finding interesting things to do as he goes into his later years - to put it another way, if he has to play a guy that doesn't fight at all, he can still turn in work better than a hundred or a thousand others. 7.5/10