The Foreigner

Didn’t Steven Seagal  do a movie called The Foreigner? I guess taking that titled is better than the title of the book this movie is based on, The Chinaman.

So, I’m not surprised that Jackie Chan has a dramatic side. I’ve seen shades of it in the latest installments of his hit Chinese franchise, Police Story. He also did a war movie in China, called Railroad Tigers that showed this off, but the Foreigner puts him on a new level. I don’t think I’ve see Chan seek vengeance for a wrong doing like I’ve seen here.

Chan plays an old man. It’s funny watching Jackie Chan have to slow it down knowing that even at 63 he is far more impressive than what he’s doing in this film, but Chan is still bedazzling at half the pace. A group of terrorist kill his daughter and the old man is on the loose trying to find the names of the men who did it, of which his focus is mostly on the head of the IRA played by Pierce Brosnan, who’s working once again with director Martin Campbell who directed him in Golden Eye. With Brosnan on broad you can feel a little pressure coming off of Jackie’s overall performance in his first dramatic leading role in a western movie. Brosnan is the focus of a subplot about a once terrorist trying to keep his now good name. His support picks up all the slack in the film, and allows Jackie to say very little and let his actions speak louder, making him very entertaining

With the slowed down kung fu mix and stunts added onto the drama, Jackie Chan ironically resembles the American action heroes that look up to him. It’s a similar action style to another recent Chinese movie Jackie did, Skiptrace , which was a good one, getting more western with style seems to be what he’s doing to keep the career going.

Jackie took a big risk with this dramatic role on this side of the world, but It’s enough of the Jackie we know so it does not isolate us and enough of a different side of Chan we don’t see, and he pulls it off.