Review of The Foreigner (2017) [ESP – ENG]

Greetings to all the members of the community, how are you? I was flipping channels bored on Sunday afternoon and found to my excellent luck this movie starting, as the simple person I am, seeing Jackie Chan was enough to make me stay watching it. I had a long time without stopping to watch a cinematography with these characteristics so I enjoyed all the elements on screen, it felt fresh not being what I usually get used to, but anyway you always have to try to bring a critical reasoning not to give undeserved merits to a movie that, even if you enjoy it because it manages to develop an interesting story with a few plot lines, that converge when we are getting to the end, it still counts with clichés that in any way I could say are necessary for the development of the story.

Does it have action? Yes, but I would not say it is action, but drama showing some action scenes where you can perceive the essence of this actor, whom we will see playing the role of Quan Ngoc Minh, a man of Chinese origin who will show us how far a father is willing to go for his children, not to tell them anything else and damage them part of the experience by giving them information. As it always happens, he is forced to get involved in circumstances of gigantic magnitude to which he will decide to face by getting more involved, with the maximum courage, with the intention of finding the answers he needs. The problem is that he is a civilian who should not be getting involved in such dangerous matters, so there is no information, they send him home as they would have done with any of us and that adds to the realism that brings with it some frustration when you encounter impediments.

They were right in trying to dissuade him because within the immense problem there is a rebel cell belonging to the Irish Republican Army that continues to have problems with the British... if you remember a bit of history you will know that this is not a good thing. That is why Irish politician Liam Hennessy played by Pierce Brosnan, will be the person of interest to a Mr. Quan thirsty for answers because he is convinced he knows something having had his history with this radical group. This plot line goes a long way but it is not the only thing that is presented within the cinematography, several areas of the circumstances are explored, focusing not only on Quan's tireless search, but also on the internal and external situation Hennessy is going through, and how the special agencies are investigating what happened, harmoniously intertwining that while the whole thing unfolds.

There are films that try to address too much without cohesion as I have mentioned in some previous reviews, but this one manages to develop in a fair way each of the elements it presents, with some that could have been developed a little more but at least it strives for a closure where the viewer can feel that it was not left in a haze. What is defined as good and evil painfully marked in this kind of films here does not exist in the sense that this goes in a swing of morality, realistic if you will, because although you get to want the success of Quan because you do not feel too much satisfaction as the events unfold, this is a human being who is fighting for what he considers right without necessarily being labeled as such, I like that feeling of not having been able to sympathize with the main character because it makes use of the all-important gray.

Jackie Chan's performance was on point, bringing out the emotion to the fullest by truly putting himself in the shoes of this father going through great difficulties for years, both his expressions and body language give the impression of being in the presence of someone going through a loss that he is suffering too much, demonstrating his immense capacity for dramatic and not so action-related acting that, however, came out wonderfully, but that was no surprise. What did surprise me was that they respect the age of the character since he was not presented as excessively fluid in the fight sequences, where the recoveries from a fall cost, accidental movements with miraculous counterattacks reaching circumstantial using objects around him. Although he has his training and does an excellent job getting out of tight spots when he is outnumbered, he is not a super human and nothing hurts him.

I liked the direction of Martin Campbell, who manages to generate the feeling of impact with the scenes that is increasing with excellent rhythm during the duration of the film, accentuating the emotions thanks to the expert use of the shots and angles that highlight the dramatic aspect. This visual section was up to par with the cinematography by David Tattersall with a subdued color palette of much predominance of blue that I liked, tending to that darkness that plays with the lighting although I wouldn't say it's my favorite. The reality is that it achieves a good final result that can be appreciated in terms of plot, artwork, character development and closure in general, once finished you are satisfied with what it was, an excellent movie to spend time watching Jackie Chan in what is the best dramatic performance I've seen him, although it does not have much to compare. The rest is a matter of taste, but I would recommend it without fear.

Thank you very much for reading my publication, I hope to meet you here in the next opportunity.