'The Foreigner' sees Jackie Chan bring his trademark action prowess — but without the comedy, we see how brutal the actor can be.
With a stellar career built on slapstick action, Jackie Chan's name has been synonymous with the action-comedy genre. From his superstar-making turns in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master, to his Hollywood breakthrough Rush Hour, Chan's oeuvre is built on eliciting laughter and amusement from his martial arts.
With an understanding of each and every single facet of his career, Martin Campbell removes the hilarity and bares the actor's grittiness in The Foreigner. Chan plays Quan, a man out for revenge after her daughter dies from a terror attack, and the authorities fail to swiftly provide justice to a grieving father. The driving force of this hard-hitting picture is how it turns the conventions of a Jackie Chan film on its head, resulting in a critique of the audience's affinity with violence. COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY Failing to get answers from the authorities, he constructs bombs and weapons out of household items and systematically threatens Liam Hennessy , the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, and a former member of the IRA, the group suspected to be behind the attack. Hennessy is then involved in a cobweb of lies and deceit, including the revelation that it was his wife, who is having an affair with his nephew, is behind the attacks because of her resentment towards the British. Quan exploits the situation which leads him to find out the names of the perpetrators, and he kills them all. He returns to his noodle restaurant and is presumed to live a quiet life. Quan Shows No Remorse The most striking thing about this film is the lack of remorse in Chan's portrayal, one that fully removes any semblance of an action funnyman. Here, he is calculated, emotionless, and fully driven in his quest to kill the ones who are responsible for his daughter's death. It can be gleaned that the character of Quan, a former special operations soldier in the Vietnam War, adds to the mystique. For instance, Quan is a character that we do not know much about, but as the film progresses, we understand that we are dealing with a very dangerous man. Bolstered by the fact that his quest is personal, Quan shows a level of ruthlessness that embodies the pent-up rage of the most scorned individual. This completely changes the way we view Chan, and it is for the betterment of his work, and the film as a whole. One instance where we see this is when Hennessy's men ambush Quan in his rented room. While the action is fast-paced, which is normal in a Chan action film, paradoxically, there is a certain methodical aura around the destruction. The audience feels every single kick, punch, and hit. Quan, like the stereotypical good guy in the action flick, gets beaten up first and barely escapes. What makes this so different is we characteristically associate him with his biggest trademark, which is using furniture in humorous ways to escape from a predicament. When he picks up a chair, we automatically assume that he is going to throw it, or creatively use it to twist the bad guys' limbs like a pretzel. However, he just lodges it up against the door and attempts to escape like a caged animal.Another instance is when a bomb-armed Quan enters Hennessy's safe house and forces information out of him. The audience sees a veiled attempt at a punchline when Quan tells Hennessy that Charlie, his dog, isn't dead but only sleeping. He proceeds to open his jacket which reveals that he has a bomb strapped to him, and asks for names which Hennessy still does not have at the moment. It is at this moment that the terrifying nature of Chan is unveiled. Much like the petrified Hennessy, the audience does not know what to say about the matter. The person they grew up watching in kung-fu comedies tossing bowls and kettles is now a stone-cold killer, determined to get his way by any means necessary. It is a brilliant utilization of Chan's mythos to fully immerse viewers and extract fear straight out of their confused hearts and minds. The memories of their childhood viewings fly straight out of the window and become just a fleeting image. Quan is now the lasting image of a Jackie Chan protagonist, and his wrath shakes the foundations of his work. Chan's SIgnature Action Is Stripped of Any Comedy A turning point is in the final act of the movie, where Quan infiltrates the hideout of the terrorists. Here, we see the full repertoire of Chan, perfectly enveloped in the grittiness of Campbell's direction. Chan, disguised as a plumber, enters their room and wreaks havoc. Quan has hidden a rifle in the plumber's bag and rains bullets on his enemies. When he burns through all the ammunition, we are treated to an old-fashioned Chan melee brawl. Quan reaches for anything and everything he can get his hands on. He grabs a lamp, a television set, and finally, a jacket, and the audience is treated to a wave of nostalgia. There is finally the sight of the furniture-wielding hero we grew to love, but the hilarity is stripped, unsheathing the brutal nature of his formerly comedic violence. Instead of locking up the final enemy using the jacket, he strangles him in a manner so barbaric that we finally see Chan in a different light: there is an ungodly amount of pain in his hits, and it is ferocious through and through. A Critique of Our Affinity with Violence Ultimately, the subversion of Chan's characteristics leaves a critique of our affinity with violence. Quan is basically repeating all of his moves from previous movies, albeit with a great tonal shift. By removing the hilarity in the action, Chan's fight scenes become cold-blooded affairs that send a burning question: were we wrong for laughing at these before? The answer to this is not important, but the fact that it raises a question sheds new light on Chan's ability to not only entertain, but to humanize the violence in ways we can relate to. It makes us rethink and urges us to re-evaluate his previous movies through a different lens, and re-ignites our burning fondness for Jackie's undeniable charisma.
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