The Jackie Chan Revenge Thriller On Netflix Is One Of His Best Movies
Jackie Chan is widely regarded as one of the most highly successful stuntmen-turned-actors in the history of cinema, having appeared in nearly 150 projects dating back to the early 1960s. The prolific actor has appeared in a wide range of projects, from animated films such as the Kung Fu Panda franchise to action comedies like Rush Hour to high-stakes dramas such as 1993’s Crime Story. One of his best films, 2017’s The Foreigner, is currently available to stream on Netflix.
The Foreigner is an action thriller film written by Live Free Or Die Hard writer David Marconi, based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman written by British author Stephen Leather. Casino Royale filmmaker Martin Campbell directed the film and served as a return to form following Campbell’s previous theatrical outing, 2011’s Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds.
The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan, is currently streaming on Netflix.
Jackie Chan stars in The Foreigner alongside Katie Leung, Rufus Jones, John Cronin, Caolan Byrne, Aaron Monaghan, The Crown‘s Mark Tandy, and former James Bond performer Pierce Brosnan. Nick Cassavetes, who is best known for helming such films as John Q and The Notebook, was originally tapped to direct, though he wound up dropping out of the project for undisclosed reasons. The film’s original score was composed by Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Cliff Martinez.
The Foreigner serves as a massive multi-national co-production between American, Chinese, and British studios and producers, holding large-scale premieres in all three countries, even making a splash as one of the UK’s top ten most-watched Netflix originals of all time. The film was massively hyped in the months before its release, with fans of Jackie Chan’s work excitedly expecting a return to high-intensity action from the A-lister in his legacy years.
The Foreigner centers on Jackie Chan’s Ngoc Minh Quan, a former Vietnam War special operations soldier who lives in London, England, with his teenage daughter. After losing his wife years ago, Quan purchases and runs a family-owned Chinese restaurant in the city. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes Quan’s family once again when he learns that his daughter has been killed in a terrorist bombing.
The group, which calls itself the “Authentic IRA,” touts the former membership of a Northern Ireland politician named Liam Hennessy, who is currently appointed to the seat of deputy First Minister, leaving Quan to seek revenge. After first being told by investigators not to interfere, ‘The Foreigner,” as he would soon come to be known, takes matters into his own hands by purchasing a number of items, which he then uses to craft homemade weapons. Quan bombs the politician’s office as a show of force, causing the First Minister to send government agents after him.
The Foreigner was a massive hit for Jackie Chan, earning $145 million against a production budget of only $35 million.
As The Foreigner continues, Quan begins formulating a series of plots to investigate, including following and secretly photographing Hennessy with his mistress, as well as planting a number of bombs all throughout his properties. Some bombs Quan constructs are real, while others are false, providing a sense of psychological warfare beyond that of the physical violence he projects.
As Quan and Hennessy continue their twisted game of cat and mouse, law enforcement agencies from both sides continue to close in, getting ever closer to revealing the truth about the bombing incidents.
Though there was brief talk of a potential sequel to The Foreigner shortly after its release, there don’t seem to be any additional films in the franchise currently in the works.
When all the moving pieces finally come together, The Foreigner resolves with an action-packed climax sure to wow audiences everywhere. The film touted a massive opening, coming in third financially behind Happy Death Day and Blade Runner 2049, resulting in a staggering $145.5 million return against an estimated production budget of only $35 million. The Foreigner received mostly positive reviews from critics, many of whom hailed the film as a career-best for Jackie Chan specifically.
Though there was brief talk of a potential sequel to The Foreigner shortly after its release, there don’t seem to be any additional films in the franchise currently in the works. Of course, if Jackie Chan were to make enough room to sign on for another installment of the franchise, it would more than certainly push the project along due to his star power alone.
Regardless, The Foreigner is currently available to stream on Netflix for those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure of catching the action-packed joyride.
