Jackie Chan Marathon: The Foreigner (2017)

The Foreigner is a 2017 action thriller directed by Martin Campbell. This British-Chinese co-production is based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather. It thas got another serious and dramatic role for Jackie Chan. He had some of these before (in films like: Heart of Dragon, Crime Story, New Police Story, Shinjuku Incident, and Police Story 2013). The Foreigner fits into these gritty and serious movies.

Luckily I have forgotten many things from the trailer by the time I watched the movie. The trailer gives a lot away about the story. So don't watch it before the movie. It would spoil important stuff and make the movie quite predictable.

The Foreigner doesn't have as much Jackie Chan as you would think but it is still one of the better ones of his recent films. He plays a veteran who suffers from tragedies of the past. This could be Jackie Chan's big comeback. It is better than his other movies in this decade so far, probably as good as Shinjuku Incident. I think his acting abilities improved in the last few years. Jackie Chan manages to show emotions according to his character. He gives us a strong and believable performance.

The Foreigner gave me what I wanted and perhaps even more. It is not just another action movie but also a well done political thiller. In fact this is a thriller with elements of action sequences. Each part functions well together and very well balanced. The movie doesn't fall apart in spite of the mixture of genres. I didn't mind the dialogue heavy scenes. I like them if they are done right.

The Foreigner had the same tone as Police Story 2013. Even the fight scenes had similar moves. I liked the fight scenes in The Foreigner better. It had much longer and elaborated fights. The cinematography and the editing were better too. The action scenes were easier to follow and not as choppy as in Police Story 2013.

I also liked Pierce Brosnan's performance. He plays the role of the antagonist well, and makes the story to go forward. He represents the political thriller aspect of the film. He had more screentime than Jackie Chan did but it didn't bother me too much. Both of them made the film complete. They have a good chemistry together and gave a supisingly great and believable performance. They worked very well together.

I hope there will be a cinema release in my country too. I don't want to wait until the bluray or dvd release to watch it with a proper picture. The Foreigner is an exciting movie but probably not for everyone. If you are a fan of the main actors, chances are you will like this one as well.