The Foreigner

Director: Martin Campbell

Cast: Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan

Genre: Thriller

Year: 2017

When Quan's (Chan) daughter is killed in an abrupt terrorist bombing, he seeks revenge on the killers and persistently pursues Liam Hennessy (Brosnan) for answers.


Campbell has arguably had a mixed filmography. On the one hand he has made some great action thrillers, such as the superbly entertaining 'Casino Royale', Daniel Craig's debut that is. But then he also directed 'Green Lantern' - frankly, enough said. So 'The Foreigner' was not necessarily doomed to fail nor was it certain to succeed. As thrillers go, however, it fits comfortably within the 'relatively mediocre' pile. That does not mean this film is bad by any means, but unfortunately, is not as impressive as some of Campbell's other works.

Quan is left distraught and utterly devastated when his daughter is suddenly killed in an unexpected terrorist bombing of a bank. After he gets over his initial grief, he vehemently pursues answers, namely from Liam Hennessy, an Irish politician, whom Quan suspects is in some way involved in this ordeal. The film continues with Hennessy dealing with multiple internal issues, both political and emotional, while Quan simply acts as a sort of aggressive nuisance.
The first act of the film is heavily devoted to Chan's character, developing his emotions and intentions. It rapidly tries to construct a bond between father and daughter, but to little effect, as her death does not evoke much emotion on the audience and is simply a device to create a plot. Quan's attempts for recognition and attention from the authorities gradually escalates in significance, and his past is soon unraveled to reveal that he might not be as harmless as Hennessy initially assumed.

There is a surprising shift in tone within the film. It starts off relatively bleak and tense, showing Quan's increasingly aggressive threats and warnings towards Liam, but then becomes an expositional nightmare. It becomes bogged down with a multitude of sequences portraying the cast explaining what the plot is, and the film progresses through this, making it relatively uninteresting. Added to that, the emphasis draws away from Quan significantly, focusing more on Liam's less than engaging life. There are multiple fairly inconsequential actions that he takes, which don't seem to bare much weight towards the story, and the only thing that keeps the audience invested is Quan's intervention.

Nevertheless, Chan and Brosnan both execute great performances and are convincing in their roles. Their characters are clearly defined and developed somewhat to a degree, yet this is done for the most part through too much dialogue, and unfortunately, they are fairly forgettable, alongside the rest of the cast.
The film is competently created and relatively entertaining. The action is very well done and enjoyable to watch - evidently, a lot of effort was put into these sequences and is easily the best part about this film. The plot itself is not poor either - it is an interesting one, and has the potential to be a riveting thriller; however, this film does not sustain much of the tension or suspense.

Ultimately, this film has an engaging plot line, but, aside from the well constructed action sequences and strong performances, never really shines, and by its conclusion, it feels like a sadly average thriller movie once again.

Verdict: 6/10