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moviereview<br />
<strong>The</strong>Foreigner<br />
by Rob Jefchak<br />
When a humble businessman (Jackie Chan),<br />
loses his only living daughter in a deadly<br />
terrorist attack, he seeks vengeance and seeks<br />
any information that could lead him to the<br />
bombers who killed his daughter. Quan<br />
comes across a British government agent<br />
named Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) who used<br />
to work for the Bombers organization, the IRA.<br />
Now, Quan is mounting an unyielding assault<br />
against Hennessy, escalating retaliation and<br />
conflict as this terrorist attack stretches<br />
farther and deeper than it appears to be. Let<br />
me start off by saying that I hope this is the<br />
beginning of a long and prolific career in the<br />
drama genre for Jackie Chan, like how Liam<br />
Neeson became Hollywood?s most<br />
distinguished new action star after starring in<br />
?Taken.?<br />
When you think Jackie Chan, dark, dramatic and<br />
serious are not the words that typically come to<br />
mind. Known for performing his own martial arts<br />
stunts in comedic action films like the ?Rush Hour?<br />
trilogy, Jackie Chan has never been one to be<br />
taken too seriously; both in real life and in his<br />
films. Upon seeing the trailer for ?<strong>The</strong> Foreigner?, I<br />
was greatly intrigued to see the action star taking<br />
on such a dark, more intense role than he?s ever<br />
done before. <strong>The</strong> closest he?s ever done<br />
something similar to this was in the remake of<br />
?<strong>The</strong> Karate Kid? with Jayden Smith. Though still<br />
promising some expected badass fight sequences<br />
in the trailer, it is a welcomed and interesting<br />
change that I didn?t realize I was looking for until I<br />
gave this movie a watch.<br />
This is a far cry from another ?Rush Hour?<br />
movie. <strong>The</strong> action is more intense and less<br />
comical, there?s virtually no comedy and the<br />
plot is ripe with political intrigue, conspiracies,<br />
and twist after twist after twist. In a weird way,<br />
the film is more about the evolving political<br />
conspiracy between the government officials<br />
and the terrorist bombers than the grieving<br />
father?s search for vengeance. I can?t say the<br />
death wish story becomes an afterthought as<br />
the film progresses, but the story definitely<br />
takes itself to far higher and more<br />
complicated heights than I was expecting. This<br />
reminded me a lot of the film ?American Assassin?<br />
starring Michael Keaton that was released earlier<br />
this year.<br />
<strong>The</strong> two threads don?t seem like they?d mix but I<br />
felt they blended pretty well together and<br />
everything did ultimately tie back to the primary<br />
focus from the beginning: Quan getting justice for<br />
his murdered child just turned out to involve a lot<br />
more than I think anyone (in the movie or out of<br />
the movie) expected. As I said before, Jackie Chan<br />
has a natural talent for dramatic roles and this<br />
character of the grieving/avenging father is one of<br />
the best roles he?s done in many years and many<br />
films. He says so much by saying very little. Chan<br />
conveys a world of depth in his facial reactions,<br />
even just sitting alone in his daughter?s room or<br />
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