The Foreigner

• Directed by Martin Campbell
• September 24, 2017 (Beijing) / September 30, 2017 (China) / October 13, 2017 (US) / December 15, 2017 (UK)
• Based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather

A Chinese Nùng restauranteur and ex-soldier living in London seeks revenge for the death of his daughter at the hands of terrorists.

As a father the opening moments of The Foreigner probably hit a little harder than for most. We have a dad with his daughter on the cusp of a huge life change that is not only proud and supportive of her but also sad for the change and probably contemplating the possibilities. And then in a moment it’s all taken away. The kind of scars that such an incident can leave on a person are unimaginable.

I was surprised at how well Jackie Chan did as Quan Ngoc Minh. Chan was quite good. There is a real sense of emotional pain and loss in his performance. He genuinely comes off as a man who is empty inside because he has nothing left in the world. The one bit of family he had, the focus of everything he did as well as his hopes and dreams, has been taken from him and he wants those who did it to pay.

I’m always down for a Pierce Brosnan movie. He’s been in some stinkers, but he always gives a good performance. Here plays against type as Liam Hennessy who is a current Sinn Féin political advisor and former Provisional IRA leader yet morally not that removed from where are used to be. He’s a bit of a piece of shit actually. He is cheating on his wife. He’s a dark man trying to protect his own interests.

The Foreigner is a thriller driven by plausible situations and fueled by understandable human motivations on both sides. You become invested in the characters. They matter to you because you can understand why they are doing what they are doing. There is tension every step of the way after the initial scene. Not danger or dread but just tension.

Martin Campbell presents nothing in a glorified fashion. There is no attempt at creating a cool scene. The push for realism makes it so much more exciting. You’re used to Jackie Chan being able to pull off anything but because he is portrayed as human and taking this seriously there’s a real sense of possible failure. And with Brosnan eschewing anything that passes as good you are left with uncertainty on the outcome.

This is one of those movies that works not only because it is intelligent, but because the actors stepped out of their comfort zones and were very capable of doing so. Not every actor can do that. Some people are made for only a few things and they can excel at them. Once in a while, though, one performer takes a brief step and shows the world they have far more range and capability than one would assume.

This is a very meaty film. The Foreigner is always moving and contains numerous twists yet nothing is ever really contrived. Campbell throws a great deal out there and pulls it all together by the time the credits come. We have affairs and anger and rage and vendettas that all merge together by the closing in a satisfying way. This whole movie is crafted far better than many other thrillers I’ve seen in recent years.

I generally have a thing against movies where there are no ultimate heroes. Mostly because those tend to feature people so terrible that no matter who comes out on top it feels like a loss. Yet in The Foreigner Quan Ngoc Minh is not bad but just hurt beyond words and doing the only thing he can to get justice. He does possibly hurt or put in danger innocents but not because he is evil. He is just blinded by his emotions.

Hennessy was once a man that believed in a cause who has now been corrupted from whatever ideals he once had. Maybe on some level once a good man but is just an individual giving lip service to his former beliefs. I was left feeling he thought of himself as on morally higher ground than others but in reality is not. That gets into some stuff right there.

The movie itself never takes the simple way out of it of a situation. There are no easy answers and things don’t get wrapped up with a nice little bow. Not that our hero gets off easy. There is the implication that he’s whole again, but not necessarily off the hook with the British government.

The Foreigner is a great thriller. By being grounded it becomes gripping and edge-of-your-seat thrilling. Maybe not a must see but I certainly encourage you to check it out.