It was so nice to see a movie that made sense, engaged me from the very beginning, and gave insight into each characters motivation and how they connected to each other was consistent with the story that was being told. I really enjoyed this movie and Jackie Chan is still a major badass, I like that this movie was darker and more serious than the Jackie Chan movie I associate him with and it delivered the type of action movie that I really enjoy. It wasn't super complex or really gritty but the overall mood was consistent and really worked. It doesn't hurt that several of the action/ fighting movies that I have seen recently were not very good at all, but I would defiantly watch this movie again or keep watching it if it was on television. It was a solid few hours that I spent at the movies.
The Foreigner stars Jackie Chan as Quan Ngoc Minh, a Chinese immigrant and British citizen who now lives in London. His daughter and last remaining family members gets killed in a bombing and he because focused on finding the killers. It appears to be a new Authentic IRA group but who Minister Liam Hennessey, played by Pierce Brosnan, doesn't know about or doesn't sanction their violence toward innocent women and children. Hennesseys history with the IRA is brought up and how he acts as a go between the British government and Irish. Quan focuses on Hennessey and trying to get him to tell the names of the people who killed his daughter. Hennessey is trying to find out who in his ranks is involved while Quan is causing him problems. Also staring: Ray Fearon as Commander Richard Bromley; Orla Brady as Liam's wife Mary; Lia Williams as Katherine Davies; Rory Flack Byrn as Liam's nephew Sean Morrison; and Michael McElhatton as Jim Kavenagh.
This movie made sense and kept me interested throughout the movie. The only bad thing about the story was seeing some third act scenes in the trailer so knowing that something would be coming later on in the film took away a little of the suspense. This however, did not diminish my enjoyment of the movie and liking how everything tied together. The story was pretty straight forward but how it weaved together information about Quan and Liam's past could have made it hard to follow or understand but it actually added to the story telling and was incorporated in a way that kept up the pacing.
Overall, I liked the mood of the movie and how it was shot. The main complaint I have is the use of shaky came in some of the sequences and the tight up way some of the fighter where shot. Jackie Chan is amazing and able to stand on his own and be completely bad ass throughout an entire choreographed fight sequences so there is no reason to do the Hollywood short cuts of fast editing cuts and close up shots. I would have liked to have seen the chorography shot a bit further away and in one shot as it is well know that Jackie Chan is capable of this being done. I could tell the sequences where most likely shot in longer bits so it wouldn't have been hard to just back up the camera and show Jackie Chan in his glory. Just because he is older now doesn't mean he isn't still bad ass.
The casting was good and although there were a lot of supporting characters, because the focus was on Quan and Hennessy and it gave the information on how the other characters were connected to these two it worked. They were just there for set up or to frame these two main characters and the cast did a great job in their roles. There were some things that were a bit obvious but the movie was still enjoyable.
This was a good movie and I would definitely recommend it. It could have done a bit more for it being rated R as it didn't really seem bad enough to earn this rating so I wouldn't mind letting older teens see this movie. Definitely a solid action movie.
My Rating: 3
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