The Foreigner - Review

Release Date: October 13, 2017

I Want More Jackie Chan

So it has been a while since Jackie Chan has had a big movie in the United States. The last big role being in the reboot of The Karate Kid seven years ago, at least on screen. For anyone that doesn't know, this is not a typical Jackie Chan movie. It is not the bright and happy movie with jokes that he usually is in. This is a much more serious movie from the director of Casino Royale. I knew this going into the movie but it did throw other moviegoers through a loop.

I really liked what the story did, which is completely undermined by the marketing for the movie. In the trailers and the first 10 minutes of the movie, Jackie Chan's daughter dies. So not exactly like the Taken comparisons people are painting the movie as. The trailer also takes away some of the intrigue in the process who did the bombing. The poster has the tagline "Never push a man too far". This flies in the face of the movie since it makes really clear that Jackie Chan is not the hero. Sure you feel for him since his daughter died but all his actions are morally corrupt. The person that Jackie Chan is antagonizing is not strictly the villain either. The only people that purely in the wrong are the bombers and they themselves aren't super important to the story. The best part of the movie story-wise is realizing that no side is really good and bad, its all a grey area.

This, of course, caused the movie to not be as smooth as some people would have liked it to be. Leaving the theater with some dissonance and feeling almost unresolved. I can personally look past that fact because I like the movie operating in a grey area so much.

The action was great because when is Jackie Chan not great at action? It was in shorter bursts and not funny. It was a more western take on Jackie Chan action which I enjoyed but wouldn't have minded more of. If anything, the movie makes me want a big budget Jackie Chan movie where he gets to cut loose with a slight modern take.

Overall The Foreigner was good. It had its moments that were really fun to watch. It also had moments of "please just hurry up". You could watch it not in a theater, it doesn't have a "Watch me on a big screen" feel to it. But you should definitely watch it though.

                                     7.5/10