I grew up on Jackie Chan’s American buddy movies. They may run the gamut of terrible to mediocre but Rush Hour, Shanghai Knights, The Tuxedo and The Medallion will always hold a special place in my stupid little heart. I wasn’t even fully aware of Chan’s more accomplished and astonishing work until later on, which allowed my respect for my childhood idol to grow. He’s a legend, and I’ve missed seeing him on the big screen. Enter Martin Campbell’s The Foreigner, which offers Chan the intriguing prospect of going from Buster Keaton to Charles Bronson through a gritty revenge yarn.
The film immediately thrusts us into familiar territory , with former Navy Seal Quan Minh’s (Chan) daughter getting killed in a brutal street bombing in the UK. These Irish terrorists are hell-bent on shattering a peace treaty between them and the UK. Meanwhile, Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan), a high powered Irish government official, finds himself on just about everybody’s chopping block. The British and Irish governments are both starting to unravel some of his dirtier secrets and Quan, now on an unwavering revenge mission, continues to torment him about revealing the bomber’s identities.
Seven years ago, Campbell made a film called Edge Of Darkness with Mel Gibson. Another revenge thriller with a nearly identical premise to this film. While he certainly had a capable leading man in Gibson, the film got too bogged down in the minutia of a winding conspiracy and ultimately lost the emotional arc of its antihero. The Foreigner doubles down on the mistakes made by that film, getting tangled in what should be an incredibly simple narrative.
Quan feels like a supporting character in his own story. Throughout most of the film, we’re viewing him through the lens of Brosnan and Co. as they react to his crusade. He’s a force of nature. A prop. We never find out much about him that isn’t secondhand information and all of our moments alone with him heavily lean on Chan to sell his torment without saying much. Chan steps up and fills in the blanks with an excellent performance, often only needing to use his eyes to reel us in. He infuses Quan with a palpable sense of heartbroken exhaustion. He’s not getting any secret pleasure or invigoration after this. He is broken and this is all he has left. There’s a simplicity there that is utterly magnetic.
Unfortunately, Campbell seems much more interested in Hennessy, devoting a great deal of the film to watching his wheelings and dealings unfold. Initially, he’s a fascinating character. A man trying to reconcile a past of horrific violence by manipulating the bloodshed to come. It’s a good fit for Brosnan’s brooding persona and he does some solid work here. However, as we find out more about the world that winds around Hennessy, the more ridiculous it becomes. What starts out as a grounded political thriller eventually devolves into a soap opera that finds itself at odds with Quan’s much more authentic side of the story.
The second act takes on a fairly repetitive rhythm. Chan attacks Brosnan, Brosnan yells at his cronies, political mumbo jumbo, repeat. There isn’t even a particularly varied set of locals either, as much of this skirmish takes place in and around Brosnan’s mansion. This laborious pace does a great disservice to series of individually solid action set-pieces. Chan is as ferocious a fighter as ever and here he gets to beat people to a pulp without any of his tongue and cheek trappings. It’s simply incredible what he is still able to do as he pushes through his sixties. Campbell does a nice job of keeping the pace of these scenes frenetic while still going wide when its time for Chan to do one of his signature stunts.
There’s definitely something missing, though. The physical humor that Chan typically brings to these sequences is such an integral part of his performing style and this film could’ve used a little bit of it. It’s awfully stone-faced and heavy-handed for what is ultimately a very silly story and a bit of subtle levity could’ve done wonders for pulling us back in.
The Foreigner ultimately plays like two half-baked thrillers sautéed into one. The Chan/Brosnan storylines never quite mesh with each other and Campbell gets caught up in the wrong elements of the story. Instead of focussing on giving Chan a full-on comeback vehicle, he muddles it with espionage gobbly gook that feels pulled out of any thriller you could find on TNT. Hopefully, this film will show Hollywood that Chan is still as captivating a star as ever and then somebody can give him a comeback role fit for a master.
Advertisement
Advertisement