While his English still isn't anywhere near as accomplished as his training in martial arts is (he's 65 and has lived in the US for how long now?), this role offers him an opportunity to dive into a character where dialogue isn't needed as his top attribute. Some audience members may have walked in expecting just another run-of-the-mill kinetic movie from Chan but instead were treated to something perhaps a bit more invigorating. It's a great counter-character spot for Chan, who's been heavily involved with mixed martial arts films, comedies (involving the former), and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants action films with big budgets. The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan (not to be confused with a movie of the same name starring Steven Segal from the early 2000's) delivers a moderate to above-average action thriller, which leans a bit more toward a drama than anything Chan has done in his career. Another rewrite this could've been a favorite for me, so it's disappointing, but as is I still found a lot to like.

That performance and the grim tone elevate the movie enough over it's narrative stumbles.

It's extremely out of character, but he goes full force into the performance and absolutely nails it. This is not a typical performance from him, he plays a broken man and even his fight sequences have an unexpected amount of grit to them. And the stuff with Jackie is all absolutely flawless. That said, when the story does what it's supposed to, it works, and I loved it's nihilistic approach and conclusion. We need to be rooting for Jackie Chan's character in a film like this, and for a while I was more just confused because I wasn't even clear that he was going after the right guy. There's a lot of talk about terrorists and new IRA and past dealings and who's really the bad guy it becomes a distraction and it's all told very clumsily.

But Walk had a very straightforward plot you could get behind, The Foreigner unfortunately doesn't and that's where it falters. It reminded me a lot A Walk Among The Tombstones, which was one of my favorite movies of that year.

This type of story of unassuming man pushed too far, goes to lengths of brutality out of a sense of honor but only wants to return to his humble life, and all done with a lens of extreme grimness. I was actually pretty close to loving this movie, it has a lot of the ingredients of something I would love.

New yorker best movies 2017