Review of The Foreigner (2017) by M P — 20 Feb 2018

The leads and director have an impeccable pedigree and the story is great but it's only satisfying, not a phenomenal as hoped.

Ebert's advice has been whether a two hour conversation with the movie's principals would be more entertaining than the movie itself. I'd prefer a Graham Norton promotional interview.

Jackie is great but very reserved so you don't get his usual exuberance. His action is more MacGuyver special forces than martial arts which is understandable at his age.

Pierce Brosnan is commanding and suitably diminished as his world apart, his conversations with Jackie are great too with a nice dynamic playing between them.

Martin Campbell's direction is... small scale, I mean compared to James Bond. I guess the comparison isnt fair but just for composition nothing really stuck with me other than the final battle in London.

The story premise is a dark mirror of history (Sinn Fein was never that involved... right?) but also current events (the actions of the London Metro police raided my eyebrows) that confused me but the personal stories of Pierce and Jackie are well done if cliche.

Ultimately a nice movie to watch on TV or streaming but doesn't fully utilize the talents of the cast and director, still watchable.