The Foreigner (2017)
If a Chinese Production company, watched too much Jack Bauer (24) and too many American Revenge films,
~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2017-10-14 |
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The summary isn't completely fair, as the film was adapted from a British action book from 1992 called appropriately enough "|The Chinaman" that follows a very similar plot-line... except the Chinaman was a Vietnamese guy trained by the Vietcong (instead of trained by American Special Forces), but whatever. He still saw his family killed, owns a Chinese Take-out in London, and they fucked with the wrong Chinaman.... you can practically hear the lines from Taken, "I do have are a very particular set of skills". So close enough for the movies.
The summary isn't completely unfair either, as it was done by a Chinese production company, and it just feels wrong: like you're looking at it through a Vaseline covered foreigners lens. Just little things about how everyone reacts feels a little off: like that's how Chinese would image the British Government, IRA members, and Special Forces guys would react.
Reviewers didn't like it, but viewers liked it more, with a 57/80 split on Rotten Tomatoes.
I went because it was a Jackie Chan film, and I've often enjoyed his comedic action films. This wasn't the drunken kung-fu, happy-go-lucky, competent buffoon beating people up with a pool-noodle schtick. This was troubled rogue with not-too-many-lines, because his poor-English-with-an-American accent was easier spent with everyone else talking about him, than him saying too much. Still, Jackie did a good enough job as a serious troubled avenger part.
My wife didn't like the moral contradictions of bombing for peace. While that didn't bug me, and I didn't think it was awful -- it just didn't quite work for me. It wasn't bad bad, and it certainly wasn't the worst film I'll see this year (thanks to Tom Cruise's: The Mummy). But it didn't quite hit either. It felt like if you tried to play a Mexican Telenovela, in an Italian Style Opera, with a little bit of broadway dancing in between. Or you just watched a hard R-rated version of a Bollywood Porn-Dance film. I kinda like the parts... and it almost works, in a weird mashup way... but just breaks too many expectations at once.
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🔗 Links
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_foreigner_2017
- Spoilers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foreigner_(2017_film)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinaman_(Stephen_Leather_novel)
