Jackie Chan really stretches himself in The Foreigner, but perhaps not exactly as you'd expect. Its much closer to a latter day political/terrorism thriller that makes a conscious effort to be as Irish AF (Pierce Brosnan's dog is actually an Irish Setter). So its less of the gritty revenge thriller that one might expect of Jackie Chan's years delayed return to Hollywood (actually this is mostly a Chinese financed production, but whatevs) and more of a movie about scheming Irish dudes who double cross and yell at each other (I'm pretty sure Brosnan gets more screen time, he certainly gets waaaay more dialog). This is actually not a detriment, all the IRA drama is generally well done, and Pierce Brosnan gets his best role in years as a an increasingly desperate slick operator trying to appease multiple parties, including Chan's vengeful Father. The action is infrequent and brief, but good enough you'd wish there was more of it. Its an unlikely role for Jackie Chan, a serious and extremely British counterterrorism thriller, but this solid film is only disappointing to anybody expecting Jackie's version of Taken, whereas its more like his version of Patriot Games.
'Film Nerd Brag Alert'. I never seen Barry Lyndon until just recently, I gots to seen it on a theatrical 35 mm showing. HOLY SHIT! Its technical accomplishments are so strong I feel churlish writing about anything else, but its one of the best if not the looking period films I've ever seen. Even Ryan O' Neal's performance eventually won me over and I started out disliking the shit out of him. Its just a great dang film, the type of film I'm going to be annoying my friends with whenever possible (you ain't seen Barry Lyndon yet? Gotta get on that man).
