By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Jackie Chan, Katie Leung, Rufus Jones, Mark Tandy, Caolan Byrne, Donna Bernard, Aaron Monaghan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Lia Williams, Michael McElhatton and Pierce Brosnan.
Rating: Very Good.
Martin Campbell, director of “Goldeneye” and “The Mask of Zorro” brings “The Foreigner” a thriller that delivers interesting results but I still believe that it could have been a better film.
The movie takes place in London and tells the story of Quan Ngoc Minh (Jakie Chan) a humble restaurant owner that witnesses the murder of his daughter in an act of terrorism.
Now Quan will seek justice and his first lead is Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) a former IRA member and now government official that Quan believes that he has the names of the men responsible for his daughter´s death.
Hennesy refueses to help Quan and he´ll be playing a game of cat and mouse with him. Now Quan will have to use his wit and persistence to win this game with Hennesy in order to find the men who caused his daughter´s death and have inner peace with himself.
One of the reasons why “The Foreigner” works is because is an original concept and it´s the first time that we see Jackie Chan in a much serious role.
In the past when we had heard his name, we relate him to all the action and comedy movies that he has done but here doesn´t have to many. In fact we can see a Jackie Chan that gives a convincing performance as a man willing to seek justice, even if it is to take the law into his own hands.
The performance that really impressed me was Pierce Brosnan; without a doubt this is best one I have seen in his career and he portrays his character in a very convincing way that we hate from beginning to end.
The flaw that I saw in this movie was in terms of screenplay. I do think it´s good but by moments gets too much into dialogue and over explains to much.
I like the fact that David Marconi created very solid characters but I do feel that by moments the story got to political and again sometimes is not a good idea to mix two plots into a movie.
Although this time it does work but it could have worked better if they would been focused in one single subject.
Martin Campbell`s directing again delivers and he brought his personal touch in this film which is that he illustrates the inner conflicts in the main characters and we feel for them every single moment. At the same time he shot a very dark film and it worked.
The color palette that he has used in the past with movies like “Goldeneye” and “The Mask of Zorro” plays with both contrasts and here he made much darker. It makes total sense but I was very surprise on seeing this look in the movie.
More than an action movie, “The Foreigner” is a thriller and does deliver.
Before watching this film don´t go with any expectations on seeing Jackie Chan kick ass like he normally does. Although when he does it in some of the sequences is really good and enjoyable.
I was very surprised with “The Foreigner” and I highly recommend it for it´s story, action sequences and directing by Martin Campbell.