70
When it comes to the action scenes, Campbell’s unfussy style works well with Chan’s choreography.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
The Hollywood Reporter by Clarence Tsui
While Brosnan has quite a few opportunities to show his acting chops, Chan makes do with less.... In any case, it’s good to see Chan swapping his happy-go-lucky persona for two hours for some gravitas as a tragic rogue with a marked past.
50
Consequence of Sound by Clint Worthington
Despite the bait-and-switch of Chan’s limited presence in the film, The Foreigner is slightly better than it appears on paper. Chan and Brosnan offer believable, intense performances, and Campbell coaxes Chan’s style into an abrasive brutality with moments of occasional invention.
42
The two plot strands are ostensibly linked by an act of indiscriminate violence, but they’re so clumsily threaded together that it just calls attention to the stitch-work.
60
New York Daily News by Ethan Sacks
Now that’s a kick in the head: A Western filmmaker is taking Jackie Chan seriously. The Foreigner, however, takes him a little too seriously.
30
The New York Times by Glenn Kenny
Mr. Chan is in his early 60s, and he doesn’t deliver the action pizazz here that he used to. Nor, frankly, does he summon enough gravitas to be persuasive in the role of a grief-maddened father. For what it’s worth, Mr. Brosnan, as Quon’s nemesis, sells the angry-all-the-time requirement for his character.
75
The Seattle Times by John Hartl
[Martin Campbell's] a master at rejuvenating tired warhorses, and he pulls it off again with this one.
50
Chicago Tribune by Katie Walsh
Despite its literary origins, the film feels a bit like a writer tossed a few darts at a board labeled with aging action stars and various terrorist groups and just decided to make it work.
60
The Foreigner amounts to an above-average but largely by-the-numbers action movie in which Chan does battle with generic thugs and shadowy political forces.
38
Whatever action Bond, Zorro and “Green Lantern” vet Martin Campbell cooks up...none of it involves urgency.
Used to seeing Jackie Chan in comedies growing up, this film certainly opened my eyes to the range and potential he has in terms of acting. A heart-wrenching story of a father seeking justice for his daughter, this film depicts the dangerous outcome of what happens when you push someone too far. With the action sequences and thrilling plot progression, I was on the edge of my seat throughout!