Taglines: He won’t stop until they all pay.
Ngoc Minh Quan, a Chinese Nuang chef, runs a Chinese restaurant in London. When his teenage daughter Fan is killed in a clothing store bombing, a distraught Quan seeks revenge. The bombing is claimed by a group calling themselves the “Authentic UDI” in the film version released in Europe and “Authentic IRA” in the version released in certain other countries. He first attempts to bribe Scotland Yard officer Richard Bromley for the names of the bombers, but Bromley refuses to accept the bribe or reveal any information.
Quan next focuses on the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Liam Hennessy, who speaks publicly about his status as a former UDI (read: IRA) leader while condemning the bombing. Keyi Lam, Quan’s co-worker and personal friend, attempts to console and convince him to move on, but he refuses to be swayed and eventually leaves for Belfast to meet Hennessy. Hennessy claims to have no knowledge of the bombing or its perpetrators, but Quan does not believe him. His queries escalate until he becomes fixated on Hennessy, setting off a homemade bomb in his office and threatening more unless he gets the bombers’ names.
The truth is that Hennessy, while having ordered the bombings to come with warnings as part of a political ploy to solidify the radical factions, does not actually know who the bombers are, as they are rogue members of the UDI. He is in fact outraged that no warnings were given and civilians were killed. Hennessy tries to identify the bombers by changing the code words they use after any bombings are carried out, but the rogue members catch on and outwit him. Meanwhile, he sends numerous mercenaries and personal enforcers after Quan, who manages to escape or defeat all of them.
He also observes Hennessy meeting with his mistress, Maggie, and takes a picture of them kissing. Quan then brings the fight to Hennessy, hiding in the woods outside his Belfast farmhouse and attacking it with more homemade bombs. As Hennessy’s men attempt to track him in the woods, Quan uses traps to disable a group of three and attempts to interrogate one of them, but he is shot in the shoulder by a fourth mercenary and flees. Hennessy decides to send for his nephew Sean Morrison, who was part of the Royal Irish Regiment with Bromley, after Quan in hopes that his tracking skills can be used to stop him for good.
As Quan heats up a knife to cauterize the gunshot wound, he faints and has flashbacks of his escape from Vietnam to Singapore by sea, where he and his family are attacked by Thai pirates. He and his wife look on hopelessly as his two daughters are taken away to be raped and murdered by the pirates. As he tried to fight off the pirates, he and his wife were shot and both fell overboard. His wife later died giving birth to their daughter, Fan. Hennessy receives files from the British government on Quan’s true background: a former Vietnam War special operations forces soldier who was trained by the US army.
After a second bombing on a double-decker bus, Hennessy negotiates with British politician Katherine Davies and promises the capture of the bombers in exchange for the pardoning of some of his former UDI comrades. Meanwhile, Bromley manages to identify the bombers and relays their identities to Hennessy, who then relays the information to Sean. After a knife fight in the woods, Quan manages to capture Sean, who reveals the name of one of the bombers: Patrick O’Reilly, who was also behind the bombing that killed Quan’s daughter.
In return, Quan decides to let Sean go. Hennessy, meanwhile, interrogates his head enforcer McGrath, discovering that the true mastermind is Mary, Hennessy’s wife, who also hired Maggie; she has never let go of her anger at the British for the death of her brother and resents Hennessy’s working for them. Hennessy executes McGrath for his betrayal and for involving his wife and mistress, then orders Sean to execute Mary—with whom Sean is having an affair—before returning to America.
The Foreigner is a 2017 action thriller film directed by Martin Campbell and written by David Marconi, based on the 1992 novel The Chinaman by Stephen Leather. The British-Chinese co-production stars Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Michael McElhatton, Liu Tao, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady and Katie Leung, and follows a businessman who seeks revenge for the death of his daughter.
The Foreigner was released in China on 30 September 2017, in the United States on 13 October 2017 and in the United Kingdom in December 2017 on Netflix. It grossed $144 million worldwide and received mixed reviews, although critics praised the against the type performances of Chan and Brosnan.
The Foreigner (2017)
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones, Mark Tandy, John Cronin, Caolan Byrne, Donna Bernard, Aaron Monaghan, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Lia Williams, David Pearse
Screenplay by: David Marconi
Production Design by: Alex Cameron
Cinematography by: David Tattersall
Film Editing by: Angela M. Catanzaro
Costume Design by: Alex Bovaird
Set Decoration by: Malcolm Stone
Art Direction by: Elizabeth Boller, Lauren Briggs-Miller, Nick Dent, Rebecca Milton, Tom Weaving
Music by: Cliff Martinez
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language and some sexual material.
Distributed by: STX Entertainment
Release Date: October 13, 2017
