It’s been awhile since we’ve Jackie Chan on the big screen, and let me say as a fan of his work he has been surely missed. I’m back to give you all a review on the latest films that have come out this weekend in theaters, and I was in the mood for a good action film and chose to go see The Foreigner. The film surrounds a humble businessman played by Jackie Chan with a buried past and seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. While he is out seeking justice, it leads him on this cat-and-mouse game with a government official played by Pierce Brosnan, whose past may hold the clues to the killers’ identities. When I first saw the trailer to this film I was actually optimistic about it because you had an intriguing story, great actors, and Jackie Chan beating up some bad guys. Well, let’s dig deeper into this review and see whether it’s worth the price of admission.
Starting off, it was great seeing Jackie Chan on the big screen again, because he gave us probably one of his best performances in years. In my opinion, this was his best performance since The Karate Kid and I have a guilty pleasure for that movie. I’m not just talking about his action sequences which I will get to later, but his acting was top notch in this movie. You really did the feel the pain of a man that lost his daughter in a senseless act of violence and you wanted to see him do everything he could in his power to get justice for her. Pierce Brosnan was also great in this movie, he really dug his teeth into this role and you can tell he was having a great time in this film and acting alongside with Jackie Chan. These two didn’t have too many scenes together, but when they were on-screen together they gave superb performances.
Now onto the action, which was my favorite part of the film. Seeing the fight sequences that were happening in this film and seeing that Jackie Chan still doing all his stunts were mind blowing. When you’re watching this film, you can’t help but be amazed that a 63-year-old man is still able to do action sequences like this, and it doesn’t even seem like he lost a step. Will admit there a couple times you can see Jackie slowing down a bit, but the man can still kick butt and I sure as heck wouldn’t challenge him to a fight whatsoever. Also, got to give credit to director Martin Campbell for the way he shot some of the fight scenes in this movie by putting us the audience in the middle of it that it felt like I could’ve got punched a couple of times.
The film does have some problems, one of which is the way the story is setup. What I mean by that is it felt like this movie at times didn’t know exactly what it wanted to be. One minute we’re with Jackie Chan’s character and we’re on this revenge story, then next minute the story shifts to Pierce Brosnan’s character and somehow, we’re now watching a political drama. Both of which are great and intriguing stories in itself, but when you try to combine them together it doesn’t work at all and you just end up with a kind of messy movie. Another problem I had with this film was the ending. I won’t spoil anything for you all, but close to the end of the film you’re sitting there asking yourself what’s about to happen next, and unfortunately nothing happens. Instead the screen just turns dark, the credits starts rolling, and you’re just left with more questions than answers. As a film fan, I hate when movies do that and I really wish some filmmakers would stop doing that because all you’re doing is just frustrating the audience.
So, in conclusion this was a pretty good movie to watch and it was great seeing Jackie Chan back doing what he does best, kicking bad guys butts! Obviously besides him doing that he gave a great acting performance, definitely his best one in recent years, and both him and Pierce Brosnan were great together in this movie. Again, I can’t praise the action enough. If you’re a fan of Jackie Chan, then you’re going to come away enjoying this movie and seeing him back in action. There’s going to be times that you forget that this man is 63-years-old and is still doing all his own stunts. I don’t know what the man does to keep his body in shape at that age, but I may have to start doing that for myself now while I’m young to get myself ready. Did have a problem with the story because it just didn’t know what it wanted to be, one minute it’s a revenge story then next it’s a political drama, and the ending was very frustrating for me. But it’s a very good film that I think some people will enjoy, if you do choose to go see it I would recommend maybe going to a matinee showing instead. Overall, I’m going to give The Foreigner a C+.
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