Movie Review: The Foreigner (2017)

The Foreigner (2017) directed by Martin Campbell

Quan (Jackie Chan) is an immigrant father who runs a Chinese restaurant in London. His life is turned upside down when his daughter is killed in an IRA-inspired terrorist bombing while she's shopping for a prom dress. He tries to go through the system to get answers on who killed her daughter and if they will be punished. He gets all the way to Undersecretary for Ireland Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan), who is as evasive and non-commital as everyone else. Quan doesn't take no for an answer. He steps up his pressure on officials to get answers. Quan is ex-military--special ops from America--so he is an expert at both hand-to-hand combat and improvising bombs. He realizes Hennessy has more connections and probably more information. Hennessy is ex-IRA, giving him lots of valuable contacts in Ireland to help the cause of peace. Also, he might be more involved than it appears at first glance. The conflict escalates as Quan pushes for answers and the pseudo-IRA terrorists plan another attack.

This movie is an interesting blend of slow burn and slow reveal of what's really going on. Chan gives a good performance with only occasional bursts of his usual martial arts action. The pace is pretty good. Chan is a little overshadowed by Brosnan, who gets more screen time and more range of emotions to play. The plot has some good twists and is tough in a good way.

This is a solid B-movie action/political thriller--not outstanding but not bad either.

Slightly recommended.