I’ve always admired Mr. Chan for being able to do all of his action stunts—more so in his latest release—“The Foreigner.”
Chan plays Quan Ngoc Minh, a seemingly humble man who drops off his daughter one day and BANG, an explosion tears her into itty bitty little pieces and propels a one man wrecking crew into action.
Okay, having lived in China for more than a decade, I will admit that I have a soft spot for “kung fu” movies.
The louder and more audacious the better and no one kicks butt like Jackie Chan.
His daughter death immediately bring Quan into the circle of the IRA and Liam Hennessy (former 007 Pierce Brosnan) who does his best to pacify the aging and now quite humbled visitor (i.e. foreigner) to Britain.
Here’s the official synopsis: “An unassuming businessman with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official, whose past may hold clues to the killers’ identities.”
Actually it’s Hennessy and his Irish clan who become the hunted. Little do they know who they are dealing with! Jackie Chan may, at first glance, look like someone ready to enter the “old folk’s home.”
His body is beyond bruised. But he simply never stops. Director Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) never gives away too much about Minh’s past to this circle of cutthroats always keeping them and the audience guessing just how bad their adversary really is.
And Quan Ngoc Minh is a nasty, nasty man. Case in point: Several Irish assassins are out to get Quan as they track him in the local woods but he is several steps out in front, setting one booby trap after another to draw in his would be killers and then springs to action.
Trust me when I say, anyone who can perform his martial arts skills at 63 years of age deserves my pesos of admission. Jackie Chan has had his string of “cheesy” Chinese schlock action films and may, unfortunately, be seen through the eyes of “Western” audiences more for his silly action films such as the “Rush Hour” trilogy (number 4 in the series is coming) or “Shanghai Noon.” But “The Foreigner” is a complete diversion of his film career of which credited work started back in 1962 in “Big and Little Wong Tain Bar.”
Taken from the novel “The Chinaman” by Stephen Leather and adapted for the screen by David Marconi (“Enemy of the State”), Campbell’s set pieces are riveting.
When Quan rings the doorbell of the Irish bad guys and strolls in with reportedly a suitcase of money to buy the identity of the killer (or killers) of his daughter, all mayhem explodes when the bag is filled with rubbish and Quan leaps against his attackers like a caged cougar who hasn’t been fed in two weeks.
His kung fu moves are lightning fast and I was continually having to slap myself upside the head to remember that Jackie Chan does all his own stunts. Are you kidding? I just turned 60 and I have a hard enough time getting out of bed every morning.
What is also thoroughly enjoyable is that “The Foreigner” was filmed on location in and around London and the River Thames which brings an additional layer of believability to this action thriller.
Of particular note is the on-going grief of the death of Minh’s daughter, Fan (played with a unique pluck by Katie Leung) and how it continues to grind away at Minh’s soul. Or what is left of it. Think of it this way.
You’re daughter who has just been kidnapped and the bad guys are threatening to kill her if you don’t pay up. During a TV interview, you beg and cry for the kidnappers to let your poor daughter go free as the evil villains laugh with glee.
Instead, Jackie Chan’s Quan never cries (in public). He would just look at the screen and tell them all that they are dead; that he will track them all down and shoot them in the head or stick a dry tree branch into their skull. “The Foreigner” is a terrific action thriller and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone over the age of 17.
Please keep the children at home and away from the abject (on screen) violence. We should all look as good as Jackie Chan in our 60s and beyond and I was rooting for him all the way!
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