The Foreigner (2017) 5/5 STARS
The Foreigner (2017) is an action movie directed by Martin Campbell and co-produced by Jackie Chan, Arthur M. Sarkissian, Claire Kupchak among others. The film is about Quan Ngoc Minh (Jackie Chan) is a businessman living in London who is waiting for her in his car when an Irish group called ‘Authentic IRA’ sets off a bomb in London, killing his last surviving daughter. Quan sets out to Belfast, Northern Ireland to find who is responsible and bring them to justice. The search for his daughters killers results in a head to head with British First Minnister Perce Brosnan (Liam Hennessy), and a soldier-like show down scene in the woods.
Quan Ngoc Minh is played by the famous Jackie Chan, Liam Hennessy the Minister is played by Pierce Brosnan. Jackie Chan is one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood, recognised for his action films as he prefers to do stunts himself rather than using a stunt double. Since he began his career he’s been in too many movies to count; some of his best in my opinion were Rush Hour (1998), Around the World in 80 Days (2004) and of course The Karate Kid (2010) which is my personal favourite. He started his career in Hong Kong’s martial arts cinema industry before becoming established in the American film industry in the 1980’s, his first film being The Big Brawl (1980).
The use of actors from both Ireland and Northern Ireland is commended and the film is better for it because there’s nothing worse than watching a film based in Northern Ireland using actors that can’t do great Irish or Northern Irish accents. The film is set in Northern Ireland in a time after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which ended most of the violence of the Troubles at that time. There are references to the Troubles and the peace that came afterwards, in the film. In one clip of the film we are shown the Peace Wall in Belfast, which has since been declared a historic landmark. I commend the director for the way he included the references of historic events as well as the shot of the van driving past the Belfast Pace Wall, as it adds to the Northern Irish identity of the film.
Any Jackie Chan movie is going to give its viewers some great fighting scenes, as proven in both the Karate Kid and Rush Hour film franchises, but I particularly like him in The Foreigner (2017) purely because of how his character gives off a naïve sense of ease. A widowed father who is older and wiser than the other characters, makes viewers slightly unsuspecting, and then turns us around with both pity and union with the protagonist. Overall I would definitely recommend this film and it’s available to watch on Netflix UK.
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